Angel Of The Scrapyard
by SynthaRoboto
Summary: Sequel to Don't Fear The Reaper. M for death, dark themes, and language.
1. Chapter 1

_It's not your time yet._

Daniella was barely aware of her surroundings, completely disoriented, and very confused. Wasn't she dead? If she was, what had become of her? And who or what was that voice?

 _You can't stay here_.

There it was again, clearer this time. Daniella could hardly see a thing, everything was so dark. Yet, the voice was familiar.

 _You have to go back._

"Hello? Who's there? And where am I?" Daniella called out.

 _I'm sorry, Dani. This is gonna hurt._

"What—who are you?" Daniella said, bewildered. Then, out of the darkness came a familiar face, heading straight for her and very fast. Daniella found herself being suddenly knocked back, very harshly at that, but not before uttering one word: "Phoenix?!"

Pain, dreadful, agonizing pain, and Daniella was in a world of it. She briefly wondered if there was a Hell, and if that was where she was at the moment. With a great effort, she opened her eye. Everything in front of her was blurry, and she could make out a yellowish blob in front of her. However, her vision did not adjust, and she soon became unconscious.

When she woke again, she was no longer in excruciating pain, but the right side of her face was quite sore. Still incredibly disoriented, she opened and closed her eye several times as her vision slowly adjusted. Finally, she saw that her brother was in front of her, smiling at her and looking very relieved.

"You made it, Dani. I thought I'd lost you," Diesel 10 said to her.

"Huh? What happened?" Daniella asked.

"We thought you were dead," said Lorelei.

"I thought I was, too," Daniella said, remembering how she had chased after Spencer and gotten her face torn up a second time. Whoever had repaired her must have not only put new bars on in place of the old ones, but a few new ones as well to hold her face together where it had been ripped and cracked even further. That, she realized, was going to be sore for a while. Finally becoming fully awake, she realized she was at the Vicarstown Dieselworks.

"You should be good to go, how bout we take you home? Everyone missed you so much," said Lorelei.

"That sounds great," Daniella replied.

Soon enough, Daniella was on her way back to the Other Railway, with Diesel 10 following closely behind. When she reached the scrapyard, she stopped before going inside, staring at the angel that was perched atop the arch.

"I put that there. I thought you were gone. I thought it was fitting for you. If you don't want it there, I can take it down," said Diesel 10.

"No, leave it there. I love it," Daniella said, smiling warmly. "It's beautiful," she said, touched by the gesture. She took another moment to look at it before going inside.

Upon seeing her back and in one piece, the broken engines cheered. They had been told by Lorelei that Daniella had been found alive when Diesel 10 had gone to bring her back for what was going to be the very last time, and had been under restoration. However, given the severity of the damage to her face, her fate had been uncertain. Thankfully, her restoration had been successful, and she had returned to them.

"Aw…you guys…" Daniella said, as she had not expected to be cheered for like that.

"We all missed you," said Madison.

"Your brother missed you the most," said Paul.

Daniella smiled at Diesel 10, who then said, "You're not the only one who got restored, Dani."

Daniella gave him a puzzled look as she headed for the sheds. There, to her surprise, was Dennis, looking almost like new, except for a scar above his left eye. At that, Daniella was overjoyed. Finally, one of the engines that had been sent to that scrapyard had been saved. Though she wasn't too keen on admitting it, she was quite fond of Dennis, and would have absolutely hated to see him go.

That night, Diesel 10 stayed in the sheds with his sister, and told her about everything that had happened when she was out of commission.

"I'm proud of ya," Daniella said to him, "You didn't lose your mind, and you did a spectacular job working here," she said.

"It was what you wanted, Dani. I couldn't let you down," said Diesel 10.

Daniella smiled, and closed her eye, ready to go to sleep. However, she was jolted awake by something landing with a clank on top of her. Startled, she looked around to see what had landed on her, and saw that Diesel 10 was resting his claw on her. "Don't scare me like that again, Dani. I thought you were gone forever," Diesel 10 said quietly.

"I won't, don't worry. I'm staying around for a long time," Daniella replied. When Diesel 10 didn't move his claw, she didn't complain. Truly appreciative of the lengths her brother had gone for her, and the fact that she was now loved and wanted, she drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a few days since Daniella had been restored, and Lorelei had to return to Sodor. After all, she was the railway controller now, and Mr. Conductor could only fill in for her so much. However, being the railway controller, Lorelei couldn't always drive Daniella, so she had a close friend of hers take that position. Diesel 10's old driver had been hired again, and now that Dennis also had a driver, Lorelei decided to bring him along as well.

However, things didn't go quite as expected when Dennis was introduced. Bringing him in front of Tidmouth sheds, along with Daniella and Diesel 10, before he could even be introduced properly, he was greeted rather rudely.

" _Another_ diesel?" James scoffed.

"We already have enough of those filthy Other Railway diesels here," Gordon scoffed as he gave Daniella the stink eye.

Lorelei cleared her throat loudly. "This is Dennis. He'll be helping out around here for a while, and I expect you to treat him with respect."

"Dennis? We already have one useless oil can by that name! We don't need another!" said James.

"I hope our new controller doesn't plan on modernizing," Edward said worriedly.

"I heard that," said Lorelei, "and no, I'm not getting rid of any steam engines. However, I am going to attempt having a few engines from the scrapyard restored."

"That means even _more_ diesels," James complained, and the other steam engines groaned.

Lorelei put her hands on her hips. "And what's wrong with saving a few engines' lives? I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be complaining if I was having a few steam engines restored!"

"Says our new controller who listens to Diesel 10 before anyone else," Thomas muttered.

"That's enough! Since I took over, I've been treating you all equally and not playing favorites. If you steamers can't handle not being always put before the diesels all the time anymore, too damn bad! And y'all can stop demonizing Diesel 10! He hasn't caused ANY trouble!" said Lorelei.

"What about that massive upgrade to the Dieselworks, then? Where's ours?" said Henry.

"Have you _seen_ that dump?! It's filthy, dilapidated, and infested with rats!" said Daniella.

Lorelei was sick and tired of this. Ever since she had first visited sodor with Daniella, she had noticed a rivalry between the steam and diesel engines. Since she had become controller, that seemed to have gotten worse. "Alright, since you all can't seem to pull your faces out of your backsides, I'm gona have you all take a walk in each others' shoes, so to speak. All of you will be switching jobs today. And you steamers will spend the night at the Dieselworks tonight!" she said.

The steam engines all gasped.

"Nonsense! Who will pull the express? No diesel is strong enough, or fast enough!" said Gordon.

"Diesel 10 will pull the express. He's plenty strong enough and quite fast too," said Lorelei.

Gordon sputtered. "W-What?! _Diesel 10_ pull _my_ express?! He's far too rough! He can't pull passengers!"

"Oh really? We'll see about that. His class is made to pull passengers, and they _don't_ ride rough. I would know, I've had one for years," Lorelei said, pointing her thumb at Daniella.

"But—" Gordon protested.

"No buts," said Lorelei, and Gordon grumbled in frustration. Diesel 10, however, was grinning broadly.

"Thomas, you and Diesel will switch jobs," Lorelei said, "so will Percy and Mavis. Gordon, you'll help James at the smelters."

"Me?!" James exclaimed.

"Yes, you. Arry and Paxton will be doing your job, and Edward will be taking Paxton's place. Now, I was going to have Dennis pull that heavy goods train, but Henry can take it instead while Dennis pulls his passengers," said Lorelei.

The steam engines all grumbled. None of them were exactly pleased to have to switch places with the diesels. Gordon and James, however, were very cross. Those two had been indifferent to Sir Topham Hatt's plan to get rid of all the diesels, and they did not trust Lorelei at all. Both of them grumbled and griped all the way to the smelters, where Arry was not doing much of anything.

"Didn't you hear? Our new controller told us to work here and _you_ to take my train! You're late, you smelly old grease box!" James spat.

"An engine such as myself doing the job of a couple smelly diesels! Oh, the indignity!" Gordon moaned.

Without saying a word, Arry left the two steam engines alone at the smelters.

"At least he's gone quiet! I think I can tolerate him better like that at least," said James.

Arry, however, no longer cared what the two pompous steam engines said. As a matter of fact, he hardly cared about anything anymore. As he went further on down the line, and Gordon and James' voices faded into nothing, he thought back to when things were normal. Before Daniella visited. Before the Fat Controller had tried to get rid of the diesels. Before Bert had been crushed in a rockslide.

He knew that nothing would ever be the same again, and losing his twin had made that all so much worse. When Bert was killed, it was as if a part of him had died along with him.

Despite the impromptu switch-up, things had gone pretty smoothly for the most part. However none of the steam engines were very pleased with having to spend the night at the Dieselworks. After all, the place was run down and filthy. No one was more displeased than Gordon, who, after making some loud remarks that Diesel 10 had better not have damaged his coaches, proceeded to complain loudly about the state of the Dieselworks, and how a filthy place such as this was no place for a "grand engine" such as himself.

Finally, nerly everyone else had enough of hearing him complain.

"Oh, will you be quiet?!" Emily snapped.

"Yes, it's bad enough that we had to switch with the diesels for the day!" said james.

"I still shouldn't be staying in such a dingy, dirty place! An engine such as myself should never sleep in such appalling conditions!" said Gordon.

"Actually, Gordon, no engine deserves to stay in a place like this," said Thomas.

"I'm beginning to see why Lorelei is going to have so much work put in to this place," said Emily.

"Indeed. Even the diesels don't deserve this," said Edward.

"Pah! Who cares? They're nothing but devious, lying troublemakers! They get what they deserve!" James scoffed.

"Maybe some of them are upset because they weren't being treated very well. Lorelei is changing that, so maybe they'll be nicer once they're happier," said Percy.

"I should certainly hope so!" said Gordon.

While the steam engines were now aware of why their new controller was going to have the Dieselworks upgraded, a few of them still didn't trust her. Most of them now realized that when Sir Topham Hatt was their controller, the diesels truly had been neglected, and Lorelei was simply working to change that. Furthermore, Lorelei had no intention of getting rid of any of the steam engines, but it was going to take some time before everyone realized that.


	3. Chapter 3

The next time that Daniella headed back to the scrapyard, Dennis went along with her. The two had grown rather attached to one another, and enjoyed one another's company. The two were chatting idly about little things as they approached the familiar gates, but fell silent when they noticed something sitting just outside. Dennis, who was following behind Daniella asked, "What is it, Daniella?"

"There's another engine," Daniella said, not knowing what to make of this.

"Well, that's um…unusual," said Dennis.

As they drew closer, Daniella could see the other more clearly. A common class 08; she could tell by the shape and size. Yet, it was in utterly horrible condition. Having been partially dismantled, hood long since removed, the shunter's engine block and other mechanical parts were fully exposed, severely damaged, and badly corroded. Judging by the amount of rust, one could tell that this engine had been left out in the elements for quite some time.

"Oh my gosh," Dennis said quietly.

Daniella went to push the shunter past the gates, doing her best to assure it that she would do it no harm. However, the class 08 was so terrified that it visibly trembled, despite being partially dismantled. Yet, the more that Daniella tried to calm it down and soothe it, the more frightened it became.

"Who left ya here? You obviously couldn't have got here by yourself," Daniella said, only to have the class 08 look at her with what had to be the most terrified expression she had ever seen, and Daniella had seen a lot of frightened engines in her time.

"Can you talk lil one?" Daniella asked only to get a soft, pained sounding whimper in response. Looking concerned, she said, "Are you in pain? Please talk to me, I promise I won't do ya no harm,"

The class 08 let out another whimper and flinched, closing its eyes tightly and trembling.

Realizing this was going nowhere, Daniella moved the little shunter into the sheds.

"Um, Daniella, that's not where you normally put—" Dennis started.

"I know, but look at him. He's got his insides all exposed. Besides, something's just not right with this," said Daniella.

"What do you mean by that?" said Dennis.

"I've never had an engine dropped off for me before, and if I was supposed to be expecting that, Lorelei would've let me know. I also never had one this scared before. Usually, they calm down at least a little when I talk to em," said Daniella.

For the rest of the day, Daniella continued to keep a close eye on the broken shunter, but it seemed the more she tried to calm it down, the more terrified it became. No matter what she did, she had no luck in getting it to talk to her. Finally, she decided to leave it alone, realizing her presence was causing it distress. Having decided the poor thing had been through enough, she slept out in the yard that night, not wanting to move it again.

The next day, Paxton came to visit. Ever since he had been repaired, Paxton would travel to the Other Railway as much as he was allowed to, since he liked to spend time with Paul. At first, he would sneak off to visit, thinking that he wouldn't be allowed to. When he was caught doing that, he had fully expected to be scolded and punished, possibly even not allowed to see Paul anymore. However, Lorelei didn't punish him, or ban him from the scrapyard. She, unlike many railway controllers, would take what the engines had to say into consideration.

Though Paxton had been told not to sneak off anymore, especially when he had a job to do, he was now allowed to visit his brother more often, so long as he asked first, and it didn't interfere with his work.

As Daniella watched Paxton chatting animatedly with Paul, she had an idea. "Hey, you," she called out to him, "I gotta favor to ask."

"Um…OK…what is it?" Paxton said rather awkwardly.

"Come to the sheds," said Daniella.

Paxton did as he was told, and as he approached, he saw Daniella pointing to something. Looking at what Daniella was pointing her claw at, Paxton let out a gasp. He still couldn't get used to seeing his own kind in such horrible condition, and this one was in particularly bad shape.

"That was sitting in front of the gates last night. He's terrified of me and I can't get him to tell me what happened. Hell, I can't get him to speak at all!" said Daniella.

"What do you want me to do, Dani?" said Paxton.

"Could ya try talkin' to him? Please?" said Daniella.

"Alright," said Paxton. Daniella backed off as he approached the broken shunter. Seeing the other engine's face quite clearly now, he let out a horrified gasp, "Denny! Wh-What happened to you?!" he exclaimed.

For the first time since he had arrived at the scrapyard, Denny spoke. Still trembling in fear, his voice sounded quiet, fearful, and broken. "Paxton?! G-Get out of here while you still can! She-she'll kill you!"

"You mean the Reaper? She wouldn't do that. She's really nice," said Paxton.

"That's not good if she's being nice!" Denny said in a hushed voice, "Don't you know—the Reaper acts especially kind to those she plans on—on scrapping!"

"That's not true at all," said Paxton.

"Y-yes it is! Run for your life a-and don't come back! It's too late for me, go!" Denny said urgently.

"No, Denny, I don't know what you heard about her, but the Reaper is one of the kindest engines I know. She's my friend," said Paxton.

"She's only pretending to be your friend! Y-You can't trust her! She'll kill you!" Denny said, becoming increasingly anxious.

"Nonsense, Denny! If she was gonna scrap me she wouldn't have risked her life to save me," Paxton said, and Denny stared at him, taken aback. "Her name's Daniella, she's really nice…well, most of the time anyway,"

Daniella once again came into view. "Who told ya I go around killing everyone I'm nice to? I know there's a ton of rumors about me, but that's a new one," she said.

Denny looked at her and gulped.

"Please tell us what happened to you. Dani only wants to help," said Paxton.

After a few moments of fearfully staring at Daniella, Denny finally said, "Okay…the railway I used to work on had no use for me anymore…so they sold me…a very bad man took me…did horrible things…c-cut me up. Didn't finish the job…left me outside like this to rust…"

"That's horrible!" Paxton exclaimed.

"Who did this to you?!" Daniella said, and Denny flinched at her raised voice. She had not intended to sound harsh or demanding, but the kind of mistreatment Denny had described angered her.

"I can't tell you! If he finds out you didn't finish what he started on me…didn't scrap me…he'll come back! He'll make me wish I'd been scrapped!" Denny said fearfully.

Daniella's eye widened. Oh, she was all too familiar with how cruel people could be when it came to scrapping engines, but this was worse than anything she had seen. "How'd you get here? Ya couldn't have got here on your own," she said.

"I was bad…I didn't shut up…the bad man told me if I didn't stop crying he—he'd leave me f-for the Reaper—for you—" Denny shut his eyes, trying his best to stop from crying. Both Paxton and Daniella stared at him in shock.

"Look, whatever that nasty excuse for a human told you about me is probably a bunch of complete and utter bullshit. I won't do ya no harm, I promise you that," said Daniella.

"R-Really?" Denny choked out.

"Yes! And if I find the fucker who did this to ya, I'll personally teach him a lesson he won't forget…if he survives it," Daniella said, muttering the last bit.

"Daniella, he might be happier if you maybe put him where Paul is," said Paxton.

"No not him! Not him too!" Denny exclaimed.

Daniella didn't know what to say. It had become apparent that the three were brothers. She pitied Paxton, as she knew that eventually he would lose both Paul and Denny. Though perhaps Paxton was right that Denny might do better if he was near his brother, she didn't want to leave him outside, not with the condition he was in. Then, she had an idea.

As Paxton continued to talk to his brother, Daniella went to get a plastic tarp. With the help of her driver, she carefully secured it onto Denny so that his damaged inner workings were no longer exposed. Then, she moved him once again, shunting him into the spot where Alan used to sit, right beside Paul.

"There ya go lil one, sorry I can't do much more for ya," Daniella said, smiling slightly.

"Th-Thanks Reaper—I mean—Daniella," Denny said nervously. Though he was still scared, at the very least he had calmed down enough to speak to her. Daniella hoped that he would eventually let her know who the "bad man" was though. Judging by the looks of things, Denny had likely been tortured, and Daniella wanted to find out who was responsible. She would definitely tell Lorelei during her next visit to Sodor. The thought that someone would torture a little shunter and then have him dumped right outside of the scrapyard disturbed her greatly.


	4. Chapter 4

Lorelei sat in what used to be the Fat Controller's office at Knapford station, staring at the massive stack of paperwork in front of her. She was unable to focus, as her mind kept drifting back to what Daniella had told her upon returning to Sodor. Having an unserviceable engine left right outside of the scrapyard was certainly strange. However, the way that Daniella had described Denny's behavior was downright disturbing to her. By the looks of things, Denny had been cruelly tortured, and deliberately dumped there.

Sighing, Lorelei turned her attention to the stack of paperwork that sat on the desk. If she had known how difficult this job would be, she would have let Mr. Conductor take over. Still, she wanted to make Sodor a better place than it was before. Shaking her head, she decided to finish that later. Right now, she needed to take Daniella back to the scrapyard and try to find out what was going on.

Upon returning, Daniella and Lorelei found yet another unpleasant surprise sitting right outside the gates. Another class 08, this one severely mangled. The engine was chained to a flatbed, as its frame was badly bent, so badly in fact that its left side was crumpled and its right side torn open.

As Daniella buffered up to the flatbed, she saw its face, which had been torn in places down to the bare metal underneath. It was leaking terribly; seeping fluid out from where it had been torn and out from underneath one of its eyes. The deathly pale face twitched feebly as Daniella pushed the flatbed into the scrapyard. Before Daniella could speak, Paul had spotted them, and let out a loud exclamation of "Dexter! No!"

"This another one of your brothers?!" Daniella exclaimed.

"Yes! Oh no…no!" Paul said, clearly horrified.

"He—He's gonna come back!" Denny stammered.

"Who?! Who did this?!" said Daniella.

"I can't say! He knows! He knows where I am! He—He's gonna scrap everyone!" Denny said, as tears filled his eyes.

Daniella shunted Dexter next to his brothers, and Lorelei leaned out of her cab. "So you're Denny? Name's Lorelei, I own this place. If the fucker who did this to you comes around here again, I'll be cutting some of his parts off! Now, you don't have to tell me right this second, but I _need_ to know who did it, especially since _another_ engine just got dumped here," she said.

Dexter had now opened his eyes, and was staring at Daniella in an almost pleading manner.

"It's OK lil guy, you're safe here. Paul and Denny are right here, I didn't harm em. Ya probably heard some bad things about me, but they ain't true," Daniella said softly.

"She's really very kind, Dexter," Paul added.

Lorelei stepped down from Daniella's cab, took a good look at Dexter, and shook her head. Letting out a low whistle, she said, "I'ma get this one cleaned up a bit. That stuff seeping out of his face, that's gross. No offense, I know you can't help it," she said. At that, Lorelei walked off and disappeared from sight.

"Oh brother…Paxton's not gonna be happy that you three are here," Daniella muttered.

Moments later, Lorelei returned, carrying an armful of old towels and a bucket full of soapy water. She climbed up onto the flatbed that Dexter was chained to, and very carefully stepped up on his mangled bufferbeam. "Alright, one of you two needs to tell me who did this to you," she said.

"But-!" Denny said shakily.

"I know you're afraid this jackass will come back," Lorelei interrupted, "But if you don't tell me who he is, I'll have no way of recognizing him if his ass comes around here again. Now, one of you, tell me everything. Who messed you up, and why?"

"It…was…" Dexter said in a hoarse voice, trailing off.

"Take your time, buddy, you're doing great," Daniella said encouragingly.

"Mister Hatt…" Dexter choked out, struggling to speak.

"What?!" Daniella exclaimed.

"No WAY. There is no way that fat cunt survived," Lorelei said disbelievingly.

"Not Topham! His brother or cousin or something!" Denny blurted out, before gulping and looking around warily. "Y—You didn't hear that from me!" he said nervously.

"Hmm," Lorelei said, scratching her chin, "There's another scrapyard owned by someone with that last name. About five miles east of here."

"That—that's the one…" Dexter said, his voice straining.

"Alright, I think I can figure this out from here. I'll have to do some investigating, you two take it easy," Lorelei said as she wiped the oil from Dexter's face.

"But what if he comes back?!" Denny said, trembling.

"I'm not gonna leave this place unguarded, since you two were dumped here. If Daniella can't be here for whatever reason, I'll make sure Diesel 10 fills in. Speaking of that, I better call Mr. Conductor and tell him to let the Sodor engines know to keep their eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary," said Lorelei.

Once she was done cleaning Dexter's face off, Lorelei got back into Daniella's cab.

"I won't let nothin' happen to ya while you're here," Daniella assured them.

Suddenly, Denny, Paul, and Dexter let out gasps, all three of them looking at something that was somewhere behind Daniella.

"Um, guys?" Daniella asked, puzzled as to what they were staring at, "Do I have something on my face?"

"G-G-Ghost!" Denny stammered, closing his eyes tightly.

"Behind you, Miss Dani!" Paul blurted.

"Ha ha, very funny," Daniella said dryly, "I been workin' this scrapyard for years, an' not once have I seen a ghost. There's no such things as—" Daniella was interrupted by an unfamiliar horn sounding behind her, followed by a bright light that shone upon the engines in front of her. "Alright! Who's the wise guy?! Ya do know you're trespassing, right! You fuck with these engines, and I'll—"

 _It's only me, Miss._

Daniella froze; the voice had come out of nowhere. Yet, it sounded eerily familiar. She vaguely remembered hearing it as she was pushed out of a very dark place, before waking up at the Vicarstown Dieselworks. "Who are you?!" Daniella demanded.

 _Aw, that's not very nice. I mean no harm._

"What the hell _are_ you?! Show yourself!" Daniella shouted, but the light had faded and gone out, and she got no reply. Looking at the three battered class 08s, she said, " _What_ was that?!"

"I t-told you! It was a ghost!" Paul stammered.

"Is it gone?" Denny whimpered.

"Yeah, it's gone," said Paul.

"What did it look like?! You all saw it!" said Daniella.

"It was an engine," said Paul.

"What _kind_ of engine?!" Daniella snapped, losing her patience. "Sorry, guys," she added, upon seeing them flinch.

"I think it was a diesel. Looked like one of those tiny shunters," said Paul.

"I've only had a few really little—" Daniella paused, as a sudden realization hit her, and tears filled her one remaining eye. "I—gotta go," she said, and reversed quickly, making her way to her shed, where she broke down in tears. How could she have forgotten?! Daniella thought perhaps it was because she had simply seen so many die, that this had been just like any of the others that had met their end in this scrapyard.

The voice she had just heard was the same as the one that had pushed her out of that dark place. That dark place, she realized, if she hadn't been pushed out, she wouldn't be here.

 _Don't cry, Daniella._

With a start, Daniella looked to her left and saw something she never thought possible. The misty, transparent form of a little class 02 was looking back at her. His friendly face was twisted into a frown; big, innocent eyes showing concern.

Daniella stared in utter shock for a good, long moment before finally speaking: "Phoenix," she said disbelievingly.

The ghost flashed a smile. _It's me, Dani. I'm looking out for you._

"What…why?" said Daniella.

 _Because you're the kindest engine I ever met. I couldn't leave you forever._ Phoenix looked away. _I have to go now._

"But you said you wouldn't leave!" Daniella protested.

 _Not forever, Dani. Just for now. If you ever need me, call my name. I'll always look out for you. Seeya!_

With that, the apparition vanished, leaving both Daniella and Lorelei stunned.

"I must be losing my mind," Daniella muttered.

"I saw it too. You're not crazy," said Lorelei.

Daniella stared straight ahead. There was no denying that this was real anymore. "Ah well," she said, "At least it's a nice ghost."


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a few days since Dexter's arrival at the scrapyard. Lorelei had since returned to Sodor, and she was sitting at her office at Knapford. Diesel 10 was shunting the express coaches into place, and Gordon was still very cross about that one day that he and Diesel 10 had to switch jobs. "You better not be rough with my coaches, you great, smelly menace!" he said.

Before Diesel 10 could retort, grumbling was heard from the passengers:

"Aww…I thought that diesel was going to be pulling our train," one boy grumbled.

"Yes, I liked that warship better," a woman was heard saying.

"HE gave us a much smoother ride," an older gentleman said.

"Yes, did a much better job if I do say so myself," another man added.

Gordon was fuming as he backed onto his train. It was bad enough having a diesel take his place for a day, and even worse having his own passengers loudly stating that they preferred being pulled by said diesel. However, the fact that it was none other than Diesel 10 who had stolen his thunder infuriated him.

"Well Gordon, looks like your passengers enjoyed the upgrade to more modern traction, even if it was only temporary," Diesel 10 said with a smirk.

"Oh, be quiet!" Gordon said as he angrily wheeshed steam at him.

"Take that!" Diesel 10 said as he flung ballast in Gordon's face with his claw.

Neither of them had noticed that Lorelei had stepped outside onto the platform to see what all the commotion was, that is, until she spoke up. "Diesel 10! You do _not_ throw things at other engines! That is completely unacceptable!"

"Yes, ma'am…" Diesel 10 said, looking away.

Lorelei turned to the passengers. "As much as you all seemed to enjoy having Diesel 10 pull the express, this IS Gordon's job. I could arrange for them to share, _if Diesel 10 behaves_ ," she said, aiming the last bit rather pointedly at the warship.

"I'll behave, ma'am, besides, we all know you're making this railway a better place for us diesels. These clapped out old tin kettles have had a good run, don't you say?" Diesel 10 said with a confident smirk.

Lorelei, however, was not amused. Folding her arms, she said, "I'm working on making this railway a better place for _everyone_. Not _just_ the diesels!"

Diesel 10 scowled and looked away, disappointed.

"I understand you have some serious issues, Diesel 10, but I'm not gonna tolerate you being nasty to the steam engines for no reason. I don't accept that crap from them towards diesels, and the same thing applies to you! Also, keep your claws to yourself. I _really_ shouldn't have to tell you that. How old are you? Old enough to know better," said Lorelei.

Gordon, along with most of his passengers, laughed. Diesel 10 fumed as his face turned beet red. Never before had he been so humiliated! He clanked his claw crossly.

"Now, I'll let you pull passengers again _if_ you behave, and do teach 'Pinchy' not to bite!" said Lorelei.

At that, Diesel 10 stormed off, blowing exhaust in Gordon's face.

"How rude!" Gordon exclaimed.

Meanwhile at the Dieselworks, Dennis was resting in one of the sheds when he spotted Paxton heading for the main shed while pulling Arry behind him. "Hello Paxton, Hello Arry, what happened?" Dennis called out.

"Oh, hi Dennis. Arry's not feeling well," Paxton replied.

"What's wrong with him, mate?" Dennis asked, concerned.

"To be honest, I dunno," Paxton said, and pulled Arry into the main shed. As the workmen looked him over, Diesel 10 came storming in, nearly running over one of the mechanics.

"Hey, watch it!" the man shouted.

"Get off the tracks, you nimrod!" Diesel 10 snapped.

The workmen gave Diesel 10 a dirty look, and then went back to looking Arry over. As Diesel 10 used the turntable, he spotted Arry, who was looking rather pale, and hadn't said a word. His eyes were downcast, and he looked absolutely miserable.

"What's wrong with him?" Diesel 10 asked.

"Well, um, you see…" Den trailed off.

Diesel 10 rolled his eyes.

"What he means to say is, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him, I don't know why he's been breaking down lately," said Dart.

"Arry, what's the matter? You can talk to me you know," said Paxton.

Arry didn't say anything. He gave Paxton a dirty look, and then once again looked down.

"Cheer up, Arry. You'll be good as new in no time. Oh, I know what will cheer you up—" Paxton started.

"No!" Arry snapped, "I don't need your silly little jokes! _Nothing_ will cheer me up, nothing! Go _away_ ," he hissed.

"Gee, I was just trying to be nice…" Paxton muttered.

"Well go be _nice_ somewhere else! And the next time you go visit your brother in the scrapyard, take me with you and leave me there!" Arry said bitterly.

"Um, sure, but I don't know why you'd want to stay in that scrapyard," said Paxton.

"Of course you wouldn't," Arry said dejectedly.

"Well, I'd better be going. Bye," Paxton said as he left.

Diesel 10 stared at Arry incredulously. "You're not saying you want to be scrapped, are you?!" he said.

"That's _exactly_ what I'm saying!" Arry snapped.

Diesel 10 was taken aback. "Arry, I know you must miss your twin terribly. I…I know what you're going through," he said softly.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Arry shouted.

"Yes, I do!" Diesel 10 snapped back, "I had a twin that died in front of me!"

Arry glared at him. "Oh yeah? How come you never told anyone this before?" he said.

"Because—it's rather painful to talk about," Diesel 10 said honestly, looking away.

"I don't care. I've made up my mind," Arry said, looking down.

"What do you mean by that?" Diesel 10 asked.

Arry, however, didn't answer him, nor did he speak at all for the rest of the day.

That night, as Daniella was sleeping, two engines were dropped off outside the gates. A pair of class 01 diesels, a set of twins. Both were absolutely terrified, and while neither was in good shape, one was much worse off than the other.

"Melvin…they're gone now," the more badly damaged one said to the other, who was crying his eyes out.

"But—but this is—this is _that_ scrapyard! The Grim Reaper of the Other Railway lives here!" Melvin said through his tears.

"Maybe…maybe she won't be that bad—" his twin began, but suddenly began coughing something frightful.

"Mark!" Melvin exclaimed. To his horror, his twin was leaking something out of the corner of his mouth, and out of what remained of his nose, as the tip of it had been cut off.

"You've gotta be kidding me! It's coming from outside?!" Came a voice from inside the scrapyard.

Melvin let out a gasp. "Mark, sssshhh! I hear her!" he said in a hushed voice, but his ailing twin couldn't control his terrible illness. Seeing her approach, Melvin shut his eyes tightly.

As Daniella reached the gates, and saw the two small shunters outside, she froze in her tracks. The one whose eyes were closed and who was shaking fearfully was the type of thing she had gotten used to seeing over the years. The other one, however, was a different story. Never in all her years working the scrapyard had she seen an engine that leaked in such a manner. Even worse, this particular shunter seemed utterly miserable. One look at its face told her that the poor thing was suffering immensely.

"Oh good _God_. Aurora…call Lorelei…have her bring Dennis," Daniella said to her substitute driver, still staring in shock at the two shunters. As the woman stepped down from her cab, Daniella looked at Mark, who had now opened his tear-filled eyes and was staring back at her. The look on his face reminded her of a puppy that had been kicked, and she felt her own eye tearing up. Daniella was most definitely used to seeing very sick engines, but this one had to be the single worst thing she had seen in her entire life.

"What _happened_ to you?" Daniella said softly.

"S—Sabotaged," Mark choked out, coughing slightly, "Someone…went inside me—and broke things…so I'd die like this,"

"That's _awful_! Who did this to ya?" Daniella asked him.

"T…" Mark began, but was interrupted by yet another coughing fit.

"His name's Tiberius Hatt, M—Miss Reaper," Melvin said nervously.

Daniella's eye widened. She had heard Lorelei mention another scrapyard owned by the Hatt family before, and she was all too aware of what Topham had tried to do to the diesels on Sodor. "My owner is on the way here," Daniella said, doing her best to maintain her composure. Now she knew the name of the person who had now dumped four engines at her gate, four engines that had been cruelly tortured in the most horrible ways possible.

Noticing that Melvin was shaking again, Daniella said, "It's OK, my owner is real nice. She's gonna try to help ya guys…" she trailed off as she once again shifted her gaze to Mark. "We'll find a way to make it better, little one. You don't deserve to suffer like this," she said softly.

Both Melvin and Mark looked up at her hopefully. Melvin smiled slightly, perhaps Mark was right; the Reaper didn't seem so bad. Soon, Aurora came back, and Daniella was able to move the two shunters into the scrapyard. Unfortunately for Daniella, the scrapyard was becoming very full. Not wanting to traumatize any of the others by having them see the condition Mark was in, she moved the twins into the sheds where she slept. Also, she figured that she'd better keep a close eye on these two, considering that one of them was terribly ill.

Now, Daniella would have to wait for Lorelei to come back. She only hoped that at the very least, something could be done to make Mark's quality of life even a little better. If that wasn't possible, she feared she may have to do the unthinkable, and scrap him. As much as she absolutely hated to think about that, Daniella knew she may have no other choice. Letting him suffer terribly was not an option. No, Mark had faced enough cruelty, and had suffered more than enough. Either way, Daniella would leave that decision to him.


	6. Chapter 6

When Lorelei returned to the scrapyard on the Other Railway, the moment she stepped down from Dennis' cab and saw the twins that had been dumped there, she was simultaneously shocked, disgusted, and angry. When Daniella filled her in on everything they had told her, Lorelei launched into a tirade.

"Those fucking slime-bag good for nothing Hatts! First Sir Topham Fatt pulls that shit on Sodor trying to scrap all the diesels, now this Tiberius fucker does _this_?! I swear to God I'll find that motherfucking asswipe and give him a taste of his own medicine!" Lorelei said, fuming. She then went on about exactly what she wanted to do to Tiberius Hatt, describing it all in vivid, graphic detail, and loudly at that.

"Um, Daniella…is it just me, or did she just say that she was going to take a blowtorch and cut off that man's private parts?!" Dennis asked quietly.

"Nothin' she hasn't done before," Daniella replied.

" _What_?!" Dennis exclaimed. "Excuse me, but did you—Lorelei did _what_?!"

"She neutered a few guys with a blowtorch," Daniella deadpanned.

Dennis stared at her open-mouthed.

"Those fuckers cut up an engine that wasn't dead! Cut his wheels off! Poor fucker was never the same. Never talked again. Died three weeks after," said Daniella.

"And I'll do it again! Cut off these guys parts before they die and I'll cut off some of yours!" said Lorelei.

"Right, remind me to never get on your bad side, miss," Dennis said with a gulp.

"Relax, I'd never be that cruel to an engine," said Lorelei.

"Um, Lorelei, I know you're mad, heck, I am too, but you're scaring those shunters," Aurora said, gesturing at the twins, who were both staring at Lorelei fearfully.

"Sorry guys," Lorelei said with a sigh. Shaking her head, she looked at Mark. "Well, I'm no mechanic, but I might as well take a look," she said.

Mark looked at Lorelei warily as she approached him. He wasn't sure if he could trust her at all, considering the last person who had gone to "take a look" at him had broken him and made his life a living hell. However, Lorelei patted his cheek and assured him she wouldn't harm him. To his surprise, she was quite gentle.

"Jesus _Christ_!" Lorelei exclaimed, "Everything in here is broken! _Ewww_! How did that stuff get all over back here?! Fucking hell!" She stepped away from Mark, arms drenched in oil. "Yuck! I'm gonna need about five showers!" she said.

"Sorry…" Mark said quietly.

"You can't help it, don't worry," said Lorelei. "Well, if anything can be done for him, first we gotta drain that shit outta there,"

"Yeah… _you_ do that," said Aurora.

"Go get some hoses," Lorelei said, flicking her oil-soaked hand at Aurora, who recoiled in disgust.

" _EW_!" Aurora exclaimed as she wiped her face with the back of her hand.

Daniella snickered at the two women, which prompted Lorelei to wipe her hands and arms off on her bufferbeam. "Hey, don't wipe that on me! That's nasty!" Daniella exclaimed.

Moments later, Aurora did as Lorelei requested, and retrieved some hoses. Melvin watched with worry as Lorelei stuck the end of one into the hole where the tip of Mark's nose had been cut off. Noticing Melvin's worried expression, Lorelei said, "Don't worry, I'm not hurting him. Matter of fact I'm trying to help him."

Melvin relaxed slightly, although he still wasn't sure if he could trust the scrapyard owner. After all, he and his twin had been through a lot at the hands of another scrapyard owner and his employees. Mark, however, didn't seem to mind what Lorelei was doing. In part, this was because she was taking great care not to harm him anymore, but also, he really had nothing left to lose by allowing this. Not to mention, he really had no way of stopping her if he wanted to, so he went along with it.

Finally, Lorelei got finished sticking various hoses into Mark, and putting the other ends into an empty barrel. "Right," she muttered, "Time for a shower. The motherfucker who did _this_ ," she punched her hand with her fist, "I can't wait to get my hands on that jackass! What kind of a sick fuck would _do_ all this?!"

"Bloody hell," Dennis muttered, "Y'know, she's got a point, why would anyone go out of their way just to make that little guy suffer?"

"I dunno, Dennis. I just really hope what she did makes him feel better, even a tiny bit," Daniella said quietly.

That night, Daniella slept in the sheds next to the twins, or rather, she attempted to sleep. Melvin, once he realized that she would do him no harm, proved to have a rather child-like personality. As a matter of fact, he was starting to get on her nerves, as she found his perky attitude insufferable. As much as Daniella wanted to tell him to shut his freaking trap, she held her tongue, for Melvin was only trying to brighten the mood of his brother, who wasn't doing well at all.

Though what Lorelei had done earlier had provided Mark some relief, he was still quite clearly suffering, and obviously in pain. The near constant whimpering and occasional utterances of "owww!" were a clear indicator of that.

"Hey Mark, hey. I know what'll cheer you up," Melvin said, then proceeded to make a rather ridiculous face. When that failed to brighten his brother's mood, Melvin deflated for a second or two, and then said, "Oh, oh, I know! I'll sing you a song!"

Melvin then proceeded to sing an ear-shatteringly horrible rendition of the Beatles' "Come Together", in which he managed to get nearly all of the words wrong.

" _Hush_!" Daniella said, unable to take anymore. "You're probably giving your twin a headache! You're certainly giving _me_ a headache!"

Melvin made a sniffling noise. "I'm sorry. I just want Mark to feel better. I don't feel good either," he said sadly.

"I know," Daniella said as her expression softened, "It's to be expected. There's not much I can do,"

"Do…do you know any songs?" Mark asked her.

"Well, I know a few," Daniella said awkwardly.

"Ooh, can you sing?" Melvin asked hopefully.

"Pfft! Not really," Daniella scoffed.

"You probably…sound better than…Melvin does," Mark said with a faint hint of a smile.

"Hey…" Melvin whined.

"Could you…please?" Mark asked quietly.

Daniella let out a sigh. As much as she didn't want to, she just couldn't say no to him. "Alright," she finally said, "but you two gotta let me get some sleep,"

"We will, we promise," Melvin said.

"Mmhmm," Mark agreed.

Daniella paused, thinking of something that might be suitable, then:

 _In the silence of the forest_

 _The only light comes shining from the moon_

 _I wander further in the dark woods_

 _I will see you soon_

 _Traveling further in the darkness_

 _And it seems that I have lost my way_

 _With no more strength to go on_

 _And so here I stay_

 _Tired and becoming weary_

 _With no hope of ever turning back_

 _I fear not the the cold and the darkness_

 _For I've found my path_

 _Though the end is now upon me_

 _And the time of death is drawing near_

 _I face whatever lays before me_

 _I will have no fear_

Daniella looked over, and saw that Mark and Melvin both appeared to be sleeping. "Finally," she muttered, and closed her eye. Quite tired from the day's events, she quickly drifted off, now that she wasn't being kept awake by Melvin's incessant chattering.


	7. Chapter 7

A couple days after the twin class 01 diesels had been dumped at the scrapyard, Paxton came to visit his brothers. He was accompanied by Diesel 10, who had been assigned to keep an eye on the scrapyard for a short while. Paxton was utterly horrified that three of his brothers were now rusting away in the scrapyard. Even worse was the fact that two of them had been cruelly tortured.

"Dani," Diesel 10 said as his sister headed for the gates, "Where exactly are you going?"

"Me an' Lorelei are gonna do some investigating. We know who's responsible for dumping four lil shunters here an' we're gonna try to find out why the bastard did that," Daniella replied.

"Be careful Dani," said Diesel 10.

"Don't worry about me. I can hold my own if it comes down to it," said Daniella. At that, she left. She and Lorelei were determined to get to the bottom of this. While it was entirely possible that Sir Topham Hatt's relative was simply trying to get revenge on them, Lorelei suspected something more sinister.

As Daniella was headed for the other scrapyard that Mark and Melvin had told her about, she had to stop at a signal. On the tracks adjacent to her was a class 08 in red livery, which looked at her and smiled. Daniella was caught off guard, for she was used to practically everyone being completely terrified of her.

"Hi there," the class 08 said.

"You're not scared of me?" Daniella said, bewildered.

"Of course not! I heard about that incident on Sodor, how you risked your life to save another from being scrapped. You're a hero! Oh, I'm Stan, by the way," the class 08 said.

Daniella smiled warmly at him. Then, the signal changed. "Well, gotta go. Bye, Reaper!" Stan said as he took off. Soon, Daniella was once again on her way. Despite all that had happened recently, she was feeling very happy. Finally, her reputation was improving. The fact that not everyone who didn't know her personally thought of her as a vicious, evil monster made her almost ecstatic. Unfortunately, her good mood didn't last long, for a passing Deltic scowled at her, and spit at her. "Disgraceful engine!" the Deltic sneered, "You don't know your place in the world! They should have scrapped you instead of wasting time and money restoring you! Hideous, deformed warship!"

"Motherfucker!" Daniella exclaimed, but the Deltic was already out of sight. "Oooh, what an asshole!" she growled. Despite her mood being soured, she continued on her way. As she approached the scrapyard, she saw the same Deltic resting in a siding within the scrapyard, conversing with a man in a suit. The man wore a monocle, and somewhat resembled Sir Topham Hatt, only not nearly as fat, and he had facial hair.

Daniella crept into the yards, idling quietly as she was hidden from view behind a line of old boxcars. She and Lorelei knew right away the man must be Tiberius Hatt.

"Sir," the Deltic said coolly, "I don't think we've gotten the message through to that rogue warship,"

"Whatever do you mean, Jarred?" Tiberius asked him, "Surely having those four shunters who sympathized with her dangerous ideas dropped off at her scrapyard should have gotten the point across,"

"It should have, but that disgrace of an engine still carries on doing whatever she pleases," Jarred replied.

Tiberius scowled. "In that case, I may have to take more drastic measures. We can't have engines demanding rights, and if the Reaper's keeper is allowed to run the railway she's taken over, it could destroy everything people have worked so hard for!"

"I'm well aware of that, sir. Engines should know their place. The way that warship behaves is completely abnormal, and it seems she and her owner are spreading that abnormality like a disease," said Jarred.

Tiberius paced back and forth for a moment. "Yes," he said, "At least you know your place and behave like a proper engine. Back in the old days, if an engine got out of line too much that wasn't tolerated. Good way to get scrapped. Engines making demands?! Preposterous! They're machines, mere tools. Yes, you serve your purpose, but that is all!"

"And our purpose is to _work_ , sir. If you're not useful anymore then you have served your purpose and have no place on these railways anymore. Why can't certain engines just accept that? It's the way of the world," said Jarred.

"It doesn't matter why some can't accept that, namely that Reaper. What matters is getting the message across to her and anyone who sympathizes with her that this type of insubordination is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in any way, shape, or form. A couple of railway controllers have had no other choice but to send engines here because of their acceptance of that rogue's philosophy. Once an engine starts believing that they're entitled to anything other than their job, it's only a matter of time before they start refusing work and becoming useless. Better to nip it in the bud once it starts thinking like that, so it doesn't spread that dangerous thinking to anyone else," said Tiberius.

"Sir, if I may ask what do you plan on doing about this problem?" said Jarred.

"We continue to scrap anyone who dares side with the Reaper. I've already contacted railway controllers all across the land and warned them of this issue. I encouraged them to send disobedient engines here for punishment and to dispose of them. However, if this problem continues to grow, I may have to resort to more drastic measures, as I've said," said Tiberius.

"What kind of drastic measures?" Jarred asked.

"That is for me to know. Now, back to work, Jarred," said Tiberius.

"Yes sir," Jarred said, and trundled off.

Once Jarred and Tiberius were gone, Daniella left that scrapyard and headed back home. She was fuming! Lorelei noticed this, as her engine was cussing up quite a storm as she went down the line.

"Daniella," Lorelei said, "Calm down girl,"

" _Calm down_?! That piece of shit wants to torture engines just for thinkin' for themselves!" Daniella hissed.

"I know, Daniella, I heard the entire conversation," said Lorelei.

"What are we gonna do?! I wanna squish that motherfucker like a dirty little cockroach!" said Daniella.

Lorelei snorted. "I'd prefer to neuter him with a cutting torch, but let's not get ourselves in legal trouble. Look, the best thing to do is to get as many people and engines as possible on our side. There's strength in numbers, and if enough of us speak out, they can't shut us all up, and something will have to change," she said.

"I'd rather just kill that shithead!" said Daniella.

"Only as a last resort, Daniella. What we're gonna do now is spread the word. Warn everyone we can about Tiberius and what he's doing, and get as many on our side as possible," said Lorelei.

"We're not even demanding any rights!" Daniella said with a snort, "For fucks sakes, is thinking that we deserve to be treated fairly cuz we're alive that goddamn dangerous?! Askin' to not be treated like worthless trash once we're useless ain't stopping NO ONE from doing their damn job!"

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "I'm well aware of that. Tiberius is wrong on so many levels. Giving the engines a little more say in their lives and treating broken ones kindly isn't going to mean the end of the damn railways," she said, shaking her head.

When Daniella finally returned, she told Diesel 10 everything that she had found out, while Lorelei got on the phone and told Mr. Conductor, and instructed him to spread the word.

Diesel 10 was both alarmed and upset by this news. Thankfully, no one else had been dumped at the scrapyard, but with what his sister had told him, there could easily be more victims. Unfortunately, Paxton had also overheard everything, and he was terrified. Noticing his distress, Diesel 10 said, "Relax, Paxton. I'll protect you, and so will Dani."

Paxton looked at them uncertainly. After all, three of his brothers were in the scrapyard, and two of them had been viciously attacked and broken.

Finally, Daniella returned to her shed. Glancing over at the twins, she closed her eye and tried to calm herself. Oh yes, she was angry, and so was Lorelei. Right now, she could only hope that no more engines would be given the same treatment as the four that had been left at the gates.

 **Author's note: Credit where credit is due! The OCs that aren't mine are as follows: Tiberius Hatt belongs to tonygestaple. The Thin Git belongs to SiF. Jarred, Dennis, and Dexter belong to mazu8901.**


	8. Chapter 8

It was close to 3 AM, and all was not quiet at the scrapyard. Daniella had been roused from her slumber by the sound of an anguished yelp. "Huh?" she said groggily as she opened her eye. Beside her, Mark was letting out pained whimpers; his deathly pale face contorted into an expression of sheer misery. Black streaks stained the lower half of his face. That, along with the hoses that had been shoved into his mouth and in the hole where the tip of his nose had been, gave him a ghastly appearance in the dim light. Beside him, Melvin looked on in concern, occasionally glancing at Daniella.

"I'm sorry…didn't…mean to wake you," Mark said, his voice straining and full of anguish.

"Don't be, ya can't help it," Daniella said softly.

"Daniella?" Mark said quietly.

"What is it?" said Daniella.

"I…I'm scared," said Mark.

"What you scared of?" Daniella asked.

"I don't…want to sleep," said Mark.

"Why not? You havin' nightmares or somethin'?" said Daniella.

"N-No, I…I can't…Melvin…he'll be alone," Mark said in a strained voice.

At that, Melvin's eyes widened. Daniella merely looked at them; she already knew that Mark was nearing the end. However, she hated to see this unfold.

Mark continued, though he was having difficulty speaking: "I'm so scared…it hurts so much…I gotta stay…I got to,"

"Mark, no," Melvin said to him, "you don't have to,"

Mark looked at him wearily, and Melvin continued: "I'm gonna miss you a lot, but I don't want to see you suffer like this. If I were in your place, I'd probably be begging to be put out of my misery. You don't have to do this for me," he said.

"Are you sure?" Mark asked quietly.

Daniella gulped. Oh, she was afraid of this. Steeling herself, she waited for him to ask her to put an end to his suffering.

"Yeah Mark, I'm sure," Melvin said, and Mark smiled at him. However, before either of them had a chance to ask Daniella to do the deed, Daniella left the sheds, looking rather distraught. She went right outside the scrapyard and sat just beyond the gates, weighing her options. She knew good and well that Mark was suffering, yet she could hardly stand the thought of killing him.

"What do I do?" Daniella said to herself, "I just dunno what's right," Letting out a sigh, she looked at the ground. "I can't do it…they're twins. I just…" Daniella stopped speaking when a familiar figure appeared before her.

 _I know you don't want to hurt him, Dani._ Phoenix said, looking at her.

"It's not just that, they're twins for fucks sakes!" said Daniella.

 _Melvin is ready to let go._ Phoenix said, and Daniella looked down. _He's going to ask you, Dani._

"What if I refuse?" said Daniella, "I mean, he doesn't exactly have much longer,"

 _He'll linger for weeks if you don't. He's completely miserable. Please, Dani, I know you don't wanna do this, but you'd be doing him a huge favor. Melvin doesn't wanna see him suffer like this either._ Phoenix said sadly.

"Are you sure about this?" said Daniella.

 _Yes, and don't be too upset. He'll be fine._ Phoenix said.

"He'll be dead," Daniella said flatly.

 _I'm dead, aren't I?_ Phoenix said with a slight smirk.

"Point taken," Daniella muttered, and the ghost snickered in response. Finally, she went back to the twins. Both of them looked at her, not saying a word. Finally, Melvin spoke: "Please miss, he doesn't deserve this. No matter what I say or do, he's not any happier. I can't cheer him up, can't ease his pain, please, just end it,"

"Are ya both sure about this?" said Daniella.

"Y-Yes," Mark choked out.

Daniella looked at Melvin. "I'm not sure ya wanna see this," she said.

"I'll stay here, if that's OK with you," said Melvin.

"Alright," Daniella said as she returned to her spot in the sheds. She then positioned her claw so that it rested on top of Mark, who looked at her wearily. "Go to sleep lil guy. I'll make it quick, ya won't feel a thing," Daniella assured him.

Mark closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep for the last time. The sound of tearing, scraping metal emanated from the sheds shortly afterwards. Daniella had made sure that the little class 01 would suffer no longer, the only way she could.

Later that morning, Den, Dart, Diesel 10, Arry and Paxton were awakened by the sound of Daniella's horn as she shunted Melvin and Paul into the Dieselworks.

"Um…" Den trailed off.

"What he means to say is, why did you bring those two here?" said Dart.

"I want you to fix them," said Daniella.

Den and Dart looked at each other. "Excuse me, but we weren't given orders to have any scrap engines restored," said Dart.

"Then BLOODY WELL TELL LORELEI to _tell these fuckin' workmen_ to do EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO _SAVE THESE TWO!_ " Daniella screamed.

Den and Dart gulped. "Yes, ma'am!" they both said nervously.

Soon, Lorelei arrived at the Dieselworks. "What is going on here?" she said.

"Lorelei, _please_ , tell the workmen to do everything in their power to save these two engines!" Daniella pleaded.

"Dani, you know everyone that gets sent to my scrapyard is stored unserviceable," Lorelei said with a sigh.

" _Please_ , Lorelei! Paxton can't lose three of his brothers, and this one is in better shape than the other two! And Melvin's not _that_ bad off; they deserve another chance, especially after…" Daniella trailed off.

"What happened this time? Don't tell me another engine was dumped!" said Lorelei.

"Worse! I had to scrap Mark!" said Daniella.

The other engines, except for Melvin, gasped.

"You did _what_?" Lorelei said, flabbergasted.

"I had to put him outta his misery," Daniella said, looking down. "He wanted it…and so did Melvin. I'm sorry, Lorelei, I know how ya feel about that, but I couldn't let him suffer, he was—"

"I know," Lorelei said, patting Daniella's buffers, "You did the right thing,"

"Great! While we're still on the subject, would you kindly put _me_ out of _my_ misery?" Arry said pointedly.

For a moment, everyone just stared at him.

"Arry—" Diesel 10 started.

"Stuff it, Diesel 10!" Arry snapped.

"I will _not_ stuff it!" Diesel 10 retorted. "I've been trying to tell you, and it's about time you bloody well listened! I know how hard it is to lose a twin!"

"So do I," Melvin said quietly.

"Oh yeah?! Did either of you see them die right before your eyes?!" Arry snapped.

"Yes!" Diesel 10 snapped, and Melvin murmured in agreement.

"And I don't care! If I want to be scrapped, that's my choice! I shouldn't have to live like this!" said Arry.

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa_. I am _not_ scrappin' ya!" said Daniella.

"Why not?!" Arry exclaimed, sounding somewhat desperate.

"Because I've done more than enough of that today!" said Daniella.

"Enough!" said Lorelei. "We are _not_ scrapping Arry, though I think I may need to get him a shrink. _Joy_ , more paperwork," she said sarcastically, then turned to the workmen. "You, I want these two engines restored. If that's not possible, do whatever it takes to save their lives," she said.

Paul smiled happily. He still remembered that day when he had been taken to the scrapyard. At first, he had been terrified of Daniella. Now, he was thankful that she had taken him instead of someone else. If it hadn't been for her, he most likely would be in pieces by now. Even though what had happened to Denny and Dexter was horrible, Paul was thankful he had gotten to see them again.

Arry, however, was not happy at all. He skulked off to his shed, where he wished that Daniella would just put an end to his life. He hadn't been the same since Bert was killed. As a matter of fact, he had never felt so alone and empty. It was as if a part of him had died with his twin. He wanted to cry, but just couldn't. Closing his eyes, he tried to sleep, as thoughts of his dead brother plagued his mind.


	9. Chapter 9

The night after she had taken Paul and Melvin to the Dieselworks, Daniella sat in her shed at the scrapyard, gazing up at the sky. Dennis, who was now resting in the same spot Mark had been in, looked over at her. "Are you alright?" he asked, then added in a soft voice, "I heard what happened,"

"I'll be fine," Daniella replied quietly, "I just can't believe some people think it's so horrible to treat us like anything more than machines,"

"It's messed up, I know," said Dennis.

"What's so bad about makin' someone who's sick and broken still feel wanted? What's so bad about lettin' us have just a little more choice in our lives?" said Daniella.

"There's nothing wrong with that, Daniella," said Dennis.

"Yeah, well, that Tiberius fucker thinks that even thinking like that should be punished by inflicting a fate worse than death!" said Daniella.

"And he's a bad man," said Dennis.

"Do you really think we can change things, Dennis?" said Daniella.

"What do you mean? You already have," said Dennis.

"I guess you're right," Daniella said with a sigh.

"C'mon, Daniella, you've helped change things for the better, and now others are starting to realize that. Word got out about all the good things you've done, and it's starting to show," said Dennis.

Daniella looked at him, thinking about what he had said. After all, her reputation was being cleared, as evidenced by the shunter who had spoken to her at the signal the other day. Though she hadn't been out of the scrapyard much other than to visit Sodor, she couldn't help but notice that practically no one was running away from her anymore.

"You're a good engine, Daniella, and now pretty much everyone knows it. You're kind and caring…I like that about you," said Dennis.

Daniella flashed a smile. "I know ya do," she said. She once again stared at the sky. She truly hoped that Lorelei succeeded in spreading the word about what Tiberius had done. However, she didn't dare get her hopes up that anyone would empathize with her, or what she believed in. While there were many out there who disliked the way that useless engines were simply discarded, hardly anyone would dare try to change that. After all, that was just the way things were for a very long time. Even if others did want to change that, Daniella doubted that very many would want to take after her. After all, for years she had been the most reviled, most feared engine around. Only very recently had her reputation begun to change.

Looking to her side, Daniella saw Dennis smiling at her. "I believe in you," he said in reassuringly, and Daniella smiled back.

The next morning on Sodor, Lorelei found herself confronted by a crowd of angry passengers. This was because none of the engines were doing their jobs, and none of the trains were running. She soon found out that nearly all of the steam engines had gathered at the Steamworks for some reason, and were refusing to do their work.

Once Lorelei arrived at the Steamworks, she was not happy, and neither were the engines that had gathered there, as they were all angrily shouting.

"QUIET!" Lorelei shouted, and all the engines glared at her. "What the _hell_ is going on here?!"

Once again, the engines all began to shout angrily.

"ONE AT A TIME!" Lorelei shouted.

"We don't want you modernizing this railway!" James shouted.

"What?!" Lorelei said, flabbergasted.

"You want to bring more diesels here!" Duck said accusingly.

"Sodor was supposed to be a safe haven for steam, now with the Fat Controller gone and you in charge—" Gordon began.

"Hold it right there!" Lorelei said, putting her hand up, "I'm _not_ getting rid of any of you! How many times do I have to tell you guys this?!"

"We want to believe you, Lorelei, but you're friends with—with Diesel 10!" said Emily.

"And Diesel 10 has been telling all of us that you're planning on replacing us!" said Thomas.

Lorelei pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Well, Diesel 10 is in deep doo doo for spreading rumors!" she said. "Honestly, you all know he's got some serious issues and a tendency to misbehave…a _lot_. You all should know better!" Taking a breath to calm herself, she continued. "Look, I've looked through Sir Topham's office. From everything I've seen, he used to be a really good controller…and suddenly changed,"

"Lorelei…" Edward said hesitantly, "Do you have any clue what happened to make him turn his back on the diesels?"

Lorelei shook her head. "No, Edward, I don't. From the information I gathered, he used to care about all his engines. I've no clue what made him do that," she said.

Edward looked down. "Oh…well, if you ever do find out why, I think we'd all like to know," he said.

The other engines murmured in agreement.

"The plans to rid this railway of diesels only date back a couple of months. Do any of you remember anything that happened that could have fmade him want to do that?" said Lorelei.

"No," Edward said sadly, and the others said the same.

"Not even one of the diesels acting like a complete jackass?" said Lorelei.

Once again, she was met with a chorus of "no's" from the steam engines.

Lorelei sighed. "I'll keep trying to get to the bottom of this. Even if we never find out why your old controller turned his back on half his engines, just know that Sodor will always be a safe haven for steam," she said.

At that, the engines sighed in relief.

"Now, I believe you all have trains to pull! And I need to have a word with Diesel 10 for spreading rumors," said Lorelei.

Finally, the engines went to do their jobs, and Lorelei went to the Dieselworks. By the time she arrived, she was very cross. "Diesel 10!" Lorelei snapped, storming up to the big engine.

"Yes?" Diesel 10 asked, sounding mildly annoyed.

"You've been going around telling all the steam engines that I'm going to get rid of them!" Lorelei snapped.

"But I thought you were going to modernize," said Diesel 10.

"No I'm bloody well not!" Lorelei said through clenched teeth.

"Why not? I think it would do this railway a lot of good if you got rid of those worn out antiques," said Diesel 10.

"I'm well aware of what you went through in the past, but this attitude that all steam engines are horrible has got to go! _No_ engine deserves to be thrown out and discarded, and _that_ includes steam engines!" said Lorelei.

"But—" Diesel 10 began.

"But nothing! You need to realize that not every single steam engine in existence is nasty and prejudiced! I thought you'd learned something when _Lady_ of all engines went out of her way to save your life!" Lorelei said, and Diesel 10 looked down in shame. "Now, _please_ , just try to be nice to them. They don't hate you, they're _afraid_ of you! And I think you owe them an apology for making them think I was planning on getting rid of them," said Lorelei.

With that, Lorelei left the Dieselworks, leaving Diesel 10 feeling very guilty. She had made a good point, after all that had been done for him, he had gone and acted like a jerk and for no good reason. Yet, a part of him just didn't believe that there were very many good steam engines out there. While Lady had forgiven him and helped save him, to him she was an exception to the rule. To him, steam engines in general were horribly prejudiced, hated diesels, and would enjoy seeing him get scrapped.


	10. Chapter 10

Ever since the incident in which the steam engines had refused to work because they feared that Sodor would no longer be a safe haven for steam, Lorelei worked hard to improve her relationship with them. One night, she had sent Diesel 10 to the Other Railway to guard the scrapyard so that Daniella could visit Sodor.

That night, Lorelei arranged for most of the engines to meet up at Tidmouth. She had told Daniella about the issue at hand. That some of the steam engines simply didn't trust her and feared that she may do away with them in favor of diesels.

Once everyone had arrived, Daniella sat on the turntable and told them a tale of something that she had experienced long before she had her accident.

 _Several years ago:_

It was the beginning of the end for steam on the Other Railway. Many classes of steam engines had been withdrawn already in favor of diesels. At the time, Daniella was still quite young, and she had no idea of the horrors that many steam engines faced. She had only met a few, and they were all distrusting of her despite her efforts to be friendly towards them. Daniella didn't know why these strange, old engines were leery of her, but she would soon find out.

There were, of course, a few diesels on her railway that were quite cocky and had an attitude that they were inherently better than their steam powered predecessors. Daniella never believed that any engine was inherently superior to another. Unlike her brother, who often took things very personally, and soon became fed up with getting dirty looks and the occasional insult thrown his way by the few steam engines that remained, Daniella wanted to try to reach out to the steam engines. After all, she saw no reason that steam and diesel engines shouldn't be able to get along.

One day, Daniella had to deliver some trucks to one of the scrapyards. She had heard many things about the scrapyards, but this would be her first time ever visiting one. She knew that most steam engines were terrified of scrapyards, and some diesels were uneasy talking about them. At the time, Daniella didn't know what to expect. As a matter of fact, she was rather nervous.

When she finally arrived, the sight that greeted her eyes saddened her. Lines of rusted, derelict steam engines sat on nearly every track. Many of them were partially dismantled, having had various parts removed. While a few of them looked at her, many simply stared at the ground, looking completely hopeless and miserable. It was then; Daniella realized why many engines feared the scrapyards. These were places where engines were sent to die.

As she was uncoupled from her trucks, Daniella looked over to the rusting hulks that were once magnificent machines. She saw the despair in their eyes. Then, she heard a scream. Looking ahead of her, Daniella saw a small tender engine that was being cut up. Tears of pain and anguish streamed down its sunken cheeks as it cried out, begging the men to stop.

At that moment, Daniella charged at the scrap men, who quickly jumped out of the way of the enraged warship. The man with the cutting torch had barely avoided being crushed under her wheels.

"Crazy engine! What do you think you're doing?!" one of the men shouted at her.

"If you're gonna kill 'em, make it _quick_! There's no need to make 'em suffer!" Daniella snapped at them.

"What is going on here?" a voice said. Daniella looked to see a class 14 diesel on the tracks in front of her.

"This crazy engine tried to run us over for doing our jobs!" one of the men said.

"I'll handle this," the class 14 said, and looked at Daniella. "My name is Jacob. And you are?"

Daniella looked at the other diesel uncertainly. "Dani," she said bluntly.

"Pleasure to meet you, Dani. Now, perhaps no one ever taught you the place of diesels on the railways. We are an improvement, made to replace these useless piles of rubbish you see here," said Jacob.

"Useless? Rubbish? Excuse you? They're engines just like you and I are, and they don't deserve to be—to be— _tortured to death_!" Daniella spat.

Jacob scoffed. "Why should you care how they're disposed of? They've had a good run, served their purpose. Why should you care what happens to this lot? Their time is up. Out with the old, and in with the new."

Daniella snarled. "How could you be so cruel?" she hissed.

"It's just the way of the world. What are you going to do about it? You can't change it," Jacob said dismissively.

Then, something in Daniella snapped, and she lost her temper completely. She couldn't believe how callous and cruel this other engine was acting. The steam engines that were condemned to be scrapped were suffering, and this nasty piece of work in front of her simply didn't care. Daniella charged forward once more, ramming into the smaller diesel. "OH _YES! I! CAN!_ " Daniella shouted as she repeatedly rammed the other engine, until she managed to bash his buffers in and bump him off the rails.

Daniella finally stopped her assault on the smaller diesel when she noticed that many of the derelict steam engines were staring at her in a mixture of shock, fear, and bewilderment. Finally, she spoke. "You don't deserve this. No engine deserves this. I'll come back for you," she said, as she reversed out of the scrapyard.

 _Present day:_

"The yard manager wasn't happy with me. I couldn't return," Daniella said sadly, "I don't know if any of those engines got preserved. I can only hope some of them made it outta there. I never wanted to see that kind of unnecessary suffering ever again."

The steam engines at Tidmouth stared at her in awe.

"I'm well aware of what happened to steam, an' so is Lorelei," said Daniella.

"And I don't want any of you to go before your time," Lorelei added.

At that, the engines smiled at her. It was plain as day now, Lorelei cared about them all, and wanted to ensure their wellbeing and that of the railway.

Lorelei, however, noticed Edward looking at her intently. The sorrow in his eyes was apparent. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Yes," Edward said miserably, "I just don't understand! I thought the Fat Controller would never turn his back on any of his engines! I need to know what happened, what made him change so suddenly,"

"I think we all need to know that," Henry added, looking down.

"I'm doing my best to find out why, but I still haven't found any more information," said Lorelei.

"That's not all," Edward said, "Right before Diesel 10 got ill, BoCo made a trip to the mainland and—and he never came back. Was—was she in your scrapyard, Lorelei?" he said, struggling to maintain his composure.

"We've had a _lot_ of diesels in that scrapyard, what kind was he?" said Daniella.

"BoCo is a Metropolitan-Vickers diesel, a class 29, I think," said Henry.

"Never had that particular class in the scrapyard, an' I never had anyone by that name," said Daniella.

"That means he might still be out there," Lorelei said, and Edward perked up a bit. "Daniella, when you're on the Other Railway, keep your eyes peeled for an engine fitting that description. As a matter of fact, anyone who makes any trips to the Other Railway, keep your eyes peeled. If you think you've seen that diesel or anything that could lead us to him, you let me know right away," she said.

"Yes ma'am!" the engines chorused.

"Alright, everyone who doesn't stay at Tidmouth, back to your sheds!" said Lorelei. As the other engines started to leave, she turned to Edward and said, "If you ever need to talk, just ask me alright?"

Edward smiled at her. "Thank you," he said.

Finally, Lorelei and Daniella left, and the engines closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep. For the most part, they were at ease about their new controller. Though they didn't know what was to come for the railway, they at least knew that Lorelei had their best interests at heart.


	11. Chapter 11

When Daniella returned to the scrapyard, Paxton came along with her. He had wanted to see his brothers badly, and considering the condition that they were in, Lorelei allowed it. While Paul was still at the Dieselworks with Melvin, Dexter and Denny still remained on the Other Railway.

As Daniella checked on the others, Paxton rolled up to his brothers, immediately noticing that Dexter was looking very pale. "Dexter?" he asked apprehensively, "What's wrong?"

For a moment, Dexter weakly sputtered, seemingly struggling to speak. "I…I don't…" he muttered.

"Dexter…?" Paxton said, his voice wavering.

Dexter didn't answer him. Unable to speak anymore, he looked at his brother sadly, before closing his eyes.

"Dexter? S-Say something…Dexter? N-No…" Paxton choked out. Unable to contain himself, the little green diesel began sobbing. Denny looked on, horrified and saddened.

"Paxton? What happened? Are you alright?" Daniella said as she approached.

"N-no…Dexter…he's gone…h-he's gone," Paxton said miserably.

"Aw no," Daniella said sympathetically. "Look, lemme take ya back home," she said.

"O-OK…but…I don't want t-to leave Denny all alone," Paxton said tearfully.

Daniella sighed. "How about we take him with us? I know he can't be fixed, but he might be happier if he doesn't hafta spend the rest of his days in a scrapyard," she said.

"I—I'd like that," Denny said quietly.

Soon, Daniella had coupled up to Denny, and they left for Sodor. Daniella had to move Denny very slowly so as to avoid damaging him further. Once they arrived, Daniella explained what had happened.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye," Paul said, looking down.

Daniella looked at them sadly; there was nothing more that she could do. Leaving the three remaining brothers, she headed back to the Other Railway. As she approached the scrapyard, she noticed two engines in front of the gates, one of whom she immediately recognized.

"YOU!" Daniella shouted as the Deltic reversed onto the tracks that she was on, and quickly sped off. "Oh, no you _don't_!" Daniella growled as she gave chase.

"Back off, Reaper! I'm just doing my job, unlike you," Jarred snapped.

"I _do_ my job you asshole!" Daniella snapped back.

"Last time I checked it's not your job to interfere with mine! Learn your place, you disgraceful engine!" Jarred shot back.

"It's my job to protect those broken engines, you motherfucking shithead!" Daniella snapped.

"I'm only following orders, like a good engine should!" Jarred said as he sped up.

"You know who else was only following orders?! Nazi soldiers!" Daniella growled.

"How dare you compare me to that?! If it wasn't for your radical ideas, I wouldn't have so many engines to deliver to you!" Jarred spat. He was suddenly jolted forward as Daniella rammed him from behind. "Shit!" he cursed.

"You don't _have_ to follow that man's orders! You don't _have_ to help him torture those shunters!" said Daniella.

"Yes I do! Engines that disobey get scrapped! Don't you know that?!" Jarred said desperately, as he was nearly jolted off the tracks by another harsh bump from behind. He didn't understand why Daniella wasn't using her claw to strike him. Still, he couldn't show this dangerous renegade any fear. Finally, he sped through a junction right as the signal turned red.

Daniella braked hard, barely stopping in time to avoid colliding with a train that was on the other line. Cursing vehemently, Daniella reversed all the way back to the scrapyard. As she approached, she was greeted by a familiar spirit, who sat on the tracks directly in front of the points that led to the gates.

Phoenix, who was partially obscuring the view of what had been left in front of the gates, looked rather distressed.

"Phoenix?" Daniella said, somewhat puzzled.

 _You're not gonna like this, Dani._ Phoenix said.

"Well no shit, Sherlock. Another engine got tortured by that fucking—" Daniella started.

 _This is really bad, Dani. Diesel 10 needs to see._ Phoenix said, looking down.

"What do you mean? Is it someone he knows?" said Daniella.

 _It's someone he knows very well…_ Phoenix trailed off.

Daniella was shocked; she hoped it wasn't another of the Sodor diesels. If it was, she was going to go personally run over Tiberius Hatt very slowly, whether Lorelei approved or not. "Is that engine alive?! It better not be dead!" she said.

 _He's still alive…we need to keep him alive._ Phoenix said sadly.

"Well, excuse me but can ya get outta my way so I can see?" said Daniella.

 _OK, but brace yourself._ Phoenix said, before disappearing and reappearing right inside of the scrapyard.

Daniella looked ahead, and her one eye widened in shock. At first, she thought perhaps her eye was playing tricks on her. However, as she slowly moved closer, she could see the other engine very clearly. It was horrifically damaged and looked as if a huge chunk had been rather violently torn out of it. Yet the gaping hole in its side and its mangled, exposed inner workings weren't the worst of it. No, it was the engine itself, more specifically, its class. There was no mistaking it for anything else; this was another class 42.

"What…how? You—you were all scrapped," Daniella said quietly.

"Dani?" the engine spoke weakly, "Dani is that you? Is…is it really you?"

Daniella let out a sharp gasp, immediately recognizing the voice. "No way!" she exclaimed, "How?"

"I was in shock, Dani…they took me and cut parts off me…I couldn't move…or close my eyes. That Tiberius fellow thought I was dead until I started to move again…I was stuck frozen stiff…for so long…help me please…" the other engine begged.

As Daniella moved to push him past the gates, she could see his face quite clearly. His eyes had dulled and become very sunken; quite clearly he was blind. "Where am I?" he asked her, "Are…you taking me…to the works?"

Daniella gulped. "Not exactly, well…not yet," she said.

"Where am I?" the other warship asked again.

"Don't worry about it, Just stay here…er…not that you can move…I'll be back," Daniella said as she shunted him into a siding then reversed.

"Dani…" he called out to her, his voice crackling and desperate, "Don't leave me…please don't leave me…"

"I'm gonna get help. You're safe here," Daniella said, and with that, she sped off as fast as her wheels could carry her, all the way back to Sodor. She had to tell Diesel 10, however she wasn't sure how he would handle this. First, however, she needed to tell Lorelei so that this engine could be taken to the works.

Rushing into Knapford, Daniella honked her horn frantically. "Lorelei! LORELEI!" She shouted, panting, "Lorelei there—you won't believe—I don't believe this—"

Lorelei, who had stepped out of what was now her office upon hearing her engine frantically honking and shouting, raised a hand to shush her. "What is going on, Daniella? I don't think I've ever seen you this shaken up before," she said.

"Another engine—dropped off—it's—it's—" Daniella stammered frantically.

"Spit it out already," said Lorelei.

"It's a fucking warship!" Daniella blurted out.

" _What_?!" Lorelei exclaimed.

"He's alive—oh God—he was alive this whole time—he couldn't move…c-couldn't talk…h-he said he was stuck like that for _years_ ," Daniella choked out, "He's gone blind, please, _please_ try to save him," she pleaded.

Lorelei raised her eyebrows. "Take a rest, Daniella," she said.

"What?! No, I have to go get him! I promised I'd be back!" Daniella exclaimed.

"I'll send Dennis to go get this engine and take him to the works. You take a rest, and we'll head over to Vicarstown as soon as Dennis brings this engine back," said Lorelei.

Reluctantly, Daniella agreed. However, she wanted to go back to the Other Railway and get him herself. She hoped that he wasn't too far gone to save. If he was, she feared that Diesel 10 would lose his mind completely. After all, he had only begun to settle down and act like his normal self.


	12. Chapter 12

As Dennis entered the scrapyard, he wondered which engine he was supposed to take to the works. Lorelei had told him that it was an engine that had just arrived, and that it was urgent. Given the fact that only unserviceable engines were sent to that scrapyard, he wondered why it was so imperative that he take this particular one to the works. However, the moment he saw it, he immediately knew why. This was another class 42, and a horrifically damaged one at that.

"Oh my," Dennis said upon seeing it. The engine's eyes were wide open, and stared blankly. In all honesty, he appeared to be dead.

"H—Hello? Who's there?" the damaged engine said.

Dennis stared back for a moment, stunned that the big diesel could speak. His unblinking, blank stare was quite unsettling to say the least.

"Hello? Is someone there?" the engine said, his eyes still not moving or blinking. "I can't see you—matter of fact, I can't see anything."

Dennis now knew why the other engine stared so blankly, and it also explained why he didn't blink or move his faded, dusty eyes: He was _blind_. "Hello there, my name's Dennis. I'm going to take you to the works," he said, then added, "Um, what's your name?"

"I'm Daniel," the other engine said as Dennis coupled up to him.

"D— _Daniel_?!" Dennis spluttered disbelievingly. "As in Diesel 10's dead twin—um—excuse me, not to sound rude, but _you were scrapped_!"

"I certainly feel like scrap," Daniel replied.

"I can see why, mate. You're in pretty bad shape…um, don't worry, I'm taking you to the works, an' hopefully they can at least get you feeling better," said Dennis.

Daniel smiled a little at that. Soon, he was coupled up and on his way to the works.

When they finally arrived, Lorelei was there, and so was Daniella. Daniel was shunted in, and the workmen took a good look at him. Den and Dart looked nervous, and both of them gulped. Lorelei looked at them. "Well?" she said.

"Um…well…" Den trailed off.

"What he means to say, is we can't fix _that_!" Dart blurted out.

Lorelei sighed heavily and shook her head. "Figures," she muttered.

"Oh _no_ , shit, shit, _shit_! How the fuck am I gonna tell Diesel 10 this?!" Daniella said worriedly.

Just then, Diesel 10 arrived. Daniella was on the tracks, blocking his path, and obscuring his view. "Tell me what, exactly?" he said.

"Oh, nothing!" Daniella said with a nervous giggle. "Absolutely nothing at all!"

Diesel 10 narrowed his eyes.

"Diesel 10? Is that y—" Daniel started.

" _Shush_!" Daniella hissed.

"Dani, who's behind you?" said Diesel 10.

"No one! No one important...er…just a scrap engine!" Daniella said nervously.

"You're a terrible liar, Dani. Besides, why would you bring scrap to the Dieselworks?" said Diesel 10.

"You _don't_ want to see!" Daniella hissed.

"Out of my way, Dani," said Diesel 10.

"No," said Daniella.

"Regardless of whatever you're trying to hide, I need to get to my shed, and you're in my way!" said Diesel 10.

"Er…your shed is infested with…bed bugs!" Daniella lied.

"Come now, Dani, I'm tired, now will you _please_ get out of my way?!" said Diesel 10.

"Nope! I…uh…can't let you into your shed until—until the exterminators come to get rid of the cockroaches—I mean bed bugs!" said Daniella.

At that, Lorelei burst into a fit of laughter. "Daniella, you're a wonderful engine, but you are terrible at lying! Now let your brother in. He's gonna find out anyway, and we might as well get this over with," said Lorelei.

Reluctantly, Daniella moved off of the turntable. When Diesel 10 saw who was there, he let out a horrified gasp. "Daniel…but…how?" he said. He looked up at his claw, then at the gaping hole that had been cut out of his twin. He was utterly dismayed, and completely speechless. Finally, he spoke: "But…I saw you die…"

"I wasn't dead," said Daniel.

"No shit, Sherlock!" said Daniella.

"After the accident, I was frozen stiff…I couldn't move at all. It was terrifying…I was stuck like that for over a year…they cut me open…it hurt and I couldn't scream…" Daniel said quietly.

"That's awful!" Dart exclaimed.

"Who's that?" Daniel said shakily.

"It's only Dart, don't worry, you're safe here," Daniella said soothingly.

"We're going to do what we can for him, Diesel 10," Lorelei said as she patted his side. "Though…look, he won't ever be the same again. He's survived in this condition for quite some time, so he probably won't be dying on us. No guarantee though,"

At that, Diesel 10's face quivered. Here in front of him was his twin, who he thought he had lost years ago. He was certainly alive, but in terrible shape, completely blind, and had suffered immensely. Now, he was facing the possibility of losing him all over again. For him, it seemed that everything was going horribly wrong all over again.

Noticing his distress, Aurora approached him. "You wanna go for a ride?" she asked.

"Y-Yes!" Diesel 10 choked out.

Aurora climbed into his cab. "C'mon, let's go," she said softly.

"I'll be back, Daniel," Diesel 10 said as he pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, but Diesel 10 had already left.

"He's very upset," Daniella said sadly, "He thought you had died, hell, I thought you were gone. He took it awful hard, Daniel. Lost his mind over ya, especially after he got that claw installed. He thought it was made outta your parts—oh _god_. It _was_ ," she said, looking at Daniel in shock, "But you survived…ya gotta hang in there."

"I survived for years like this, I don't think I'll be going anywhere," said Daniel.

"Daniel?" Denny spoke up, "D—Did the bad man h—hurt you more?"

"Denny? _Denny_! You got out of there! No he didn't Denny, he told me I was going to be scrapped by the Reaper, but Dani found me," Daniel said with a smile.

"Um, Miss Dani _is_ the Reaper," said Paul.

"Wait—WHAT?!" Daniel exclaimed.

"She's very kind, actually. Oh, how rude of me. I'm Paul, and I'm guessing you already know Denny. We were taken out of the scrapyard so that we could live here where our brother works," said Paul.

"Daniel, we're gonna need to know everything you know about Tiberius Hatt," said Lorelei.

At the mention of that name, Denny began to tremble in fright.

"Denny, we're trying to stop him from continuing to hurt engines like he did you," said Lorelei.

"I can tell you…but can it wait 'til Diesel 10 gets back?" said Daniel.

"Not a problem," said Lorelei. She really wanted to get to the bottom of why Sir Topham had turned on his diesels, and perhaps it had something to do with Tiberius. Also, she hoped that BoCo would eventually be found, and that Tiberius' business would be shut down. As much as Lorelei didn't want to sabotage anyone's lives, this man showed clear hostility towards not only her and Daniella, but towards anyone who so much as agreed with them. As to why, Lorelei did not know at all, other than the fact that this man seemed to look down upon engines for some reason.


	13. Chapter 13

Diesel 10 had long since crossed the bridge to the mainland, and was seemingly lost in thought, not caring where Aurora was taking him. Noticing his silence, Aurora spoke up. "You doing OK there?" she asked. When he didn't respond, Aurora let out a sigh and said, "Do you wanna head back?"

"There's something up ahead," Diesel 10 said.

"It's just an old line," Aurora said as they slowed down, "We probably shouldn't go down there. It could be dangerous,"

"But there's something there," said Diesel 10.

"I don't see anything but trees and bramble. Those tracks aren't safe," said Aurora.

"There's something there!" Diesel 10 insisted.

Reluctantly, Aurora gave in. "Alright, we'll go check it out, but don't complain if you come off the rails," she said. At that, they very slowly went down the old line. As it turned out, Diesel 10 had seen something. As they slowly approached, a badly rusted, derelict old steam engine sat on the line, which had clearly been abandoned for many years.

Diesel 10 found himself feeling sorry for the engine in front of him, which made him confused. Why would he feel bad for an old, rusty pile of scrap? After all, this was a steam engine, which he had loathed and despised their kind for many years. Yet, the way this engine stared ahead at him, fearfully and hopelessly, made him think that maybe it was no different from the diesels that get sent to the scrapyard that Daniella lived and worked in.

"Hello?" the engine called out, "You—you're a diesel," she said with a gulp.

Diesel 10 rolled his eyes. "That much is obvious," he said.

"Are you a bad diesel?" the engine said quietly.

"Your kind seems to think so, then again, most of you steam engines seem to think that diesels are the worst thing to happen to the railways," Diesel 10 said bitterly.

"Are you going to take me…to be scrapped?" the engine asked sadly.

Diesel 10 was taken aback. "No, now why must you assume that?! I simply saw something on this old line, and it just so happened to be a rusty old steam engine!" he snapped.

"I'm sorry," the engine said, looking down, "I thought you were out looking for steam engines to scrap…my name's Anna,"

"How long have you been here?! It's been years since steam was abolished, and now us diesels are being withdrawn!" Diesel 10 hissed.

Anna merely looked down, not saying anything more to the big diesel in front of her. Then, to her surprise, Diesel 10 coupled up to her. "What are you—" she said.

"I'm going to help you," said Diesel 10. As much as he had despised steam engines before, this one seemed rather friendly. Not only that, but he simply felt bad about leaving her all alone to rust. However, when he went to move her, Anna's rusted coupling snapped.

Anna sighed sadly, but Diesel 10 was determined to get her to move. Using his claw, he gripped her buffers and reversed. However, this turned out to be a very bad idea. Anna was severely corroded, and brittle. With an ear piercing screech, her buffers came loose and her boiler cracked and separated from her cab. Diesel 10 released her quickly as she let out an agonized scream. He was very upset at what he had done, for he hadn't meant to harm her.

"I—what have I done…I've killed you…" Diesel 10 said, looking down in shame. It was then he finally admitted to himself that despite his anger and grief all those years, he had never truly wanted to kill anyone. He hardly noticed the tears streaming down his face; he was so wracked with guilt.

"Don't cry," Anna spoke softly, "It's not your fault,"

"But—I ripped you apart! I—god _damn_ this claw!" Diesel 10 shouted.

"Hush now. You did me a favor," said Anna.

Diesel 10 looked at her, puzzled.

"Look at me," Anna said softly, "I'm too far gone to be restored. If you hadn't come along, I would have continued to sit here and rust and I would've been all alone."

"But I—" Diesel 10 started.

Anna smiled a little. "I know you were trying to help…in a way…you did," she said, her voice becoming strained. "Don't be sad…it's just my time,"

"I didn't…" Diesel 10 trailed off.

"You're very kind…you're a good diesel…remember that," Anna whispered, before closing her eyes one last time.

Diesel 10 was surprised. He had never expected a steam engine to say that to him, let alone one that he had accidentally damaged. Finally, he headed back to Sodor. His experience with Anna had made him think that perhaps he shouldn't treat the other steam engines as if they were the same ones who had taunted him about his class being withdrawn. After all, he wasn't the last of his class, like he had thought for so long.


	14. Chapter 14

By the time Diesel 10 had returned to Sodor, the Dieselworks was in a state of chaos. Arry had been brought in after breaking down for the umpteenth time. He had become gravely ill, and no one could pinpoint exactly what was wrong with him.

Paxton, who has just returned from working at the Blue Mountain quarry, was sitting beside Denny, who was looking ghostly pale. Denny had become rather listless, which both frightened and worried Paxton greatly. He had just lost Dexter, and now it seemed that he was about to lose Denny too.

A sharp, anguished yelp caused Diesel 10 to turn his eyes towards Daniel, who the workmen were trying to pull down his eyelids. "What are you doing?!" Diesel 10 barked at them, "You're hurting him!" he snapped, clanking his claw crossly.

"They're just—" Daniel paused, wincing in pain, "trying to get my eyes closed— _ouch_!"

"Is that really necessary?!" said Diesel 10.

"Well, not exactly— _ow_! But some of the other engines said that my thousand-yard stare was unsettling," said Daniel.

"Who said that to you?!" Diesel 10 snapped, "It's not your fault that you're blind!"

Paxton gulped. "That was me…I'm sorry…" he said, looking down.

Diesel 10 sighed. "He can't help the way he looks, Paxton," he said.

"I'm sorry," Paxton said as his eyes filled with tears, "I didn't think closing his eyes would hurt him…I'm sorry…"

"To be honest, I didn't think it would hurt either," said Daniel.

"I…I didn't mean to cause you pain! This…this is too much! Dexter d—died…Denny…Denny's dying…Arry's sick…" Paxton choked back a sob. "Diesels on the mainland are…are getting scrapped! A bad man is doing h—horrible things to engines—a—and what if—what if one of you a—are next?!"

Aurora sighed sadly as she stepped down from Diesel 10's cab. She went over to Denny and sat on what was left of his bufferbeam. Curiously, she had pulled out her phone and began to take pictures of Daniel. Then, she hopped down from Denny and took pictures of him.

"What the hell are you doing?" said Lorelei.

"Taking pictures," Aurora responded.

"Yeah but why?" said Lorelei.

"Well, I think if stuff like this is exposed to the general populace, people will be more inclined to want to change how disposing of unwanted railway equipment is handled," said Aurora.

"You know, that isn't a bad idea," Lorelei said as she scratched her chin.

"Pffft, what good will it do? It's not like it's illegal to cut us up and torture us," Diesel scoffed.

"It oughta be illegal!" Daniella snapped. Diesel backed up a few feet, remembering what had happened the last time he tested Daniella's patience. He quite clearly remembered the dents left in him after she had clamped her claw down on him.

"Alright," Lorelei said, turning to Daniel, "What do you know about Tiberius Hatt?"

"He's a greedy bastard who despises the fact that we're alive," Daniel replied. "He got this idea in his head that only humans should be…aware. He finds it abhorrent that machines can be alive. Also, like I said, he's greedy. He makes a lot of money off of scrap metal, and because of people becoming afraid that us engines will become disobedient, they gladly sell their…their unwanted ones to him,"

"That explains why he thinks you all should be completely subservient," Lorelei muttered.

"Yeah…I know he did awful things to Denny. I used to hear him scream and cry," said Daniel.

"How did ya survive that place?" said Daniella.

"Well, like I said, I'd been frozen stiff for years…when I finally started to be able to move again…I kept on acting like I was dead whenever I heard him or his engines. That's how they didn't notice…until a couple days ago," said Daniel.

"What did they do to you?!" Diesel 10 barked.

"Not much, 10. That jerk of an engine Jarred saw I was alive, and he told me I was…I was gonna be ripped up by the Reaper…I didn't know that was Dani…" said Daniel.

"Wait a minute!" Lorelei interjected, "Jarred _and_ Tiberius both know that Daniella is the engine known as the Grim Reaper, and they _both_ know that you and her are the same class!"

"Maybe…he did it…" Denny paused, gasping softly, "to scare you…like me…when he said…those things about…Miss Reaper…" Denny trailed off. His voice was now weak and strained, which caused both Diesel 10 and Lorelei to look at him with concern. Paxton frowned, trying his best not to cry.

"I think if those asshats wanted to use Daniel against us they woulda kept him hostage or delivered him dead," said Daniella.

"It is a bit strange, I was due to be cut up and melted down next week," said Daniel, "I really don't know…it kind of doesn't make sense," he said.

Lorelei shook her head. Then, her phone rang. Almost immediately after answering, she let out a loud exclamation of "Oh, you have gotta be fucking shitting me!" turning to Daniella, she let out a sigh. "C'mon girl, we have to go pick up some more engines,"

"Oh for the love of—" Daniella grumbled as Lorelei climbed into her cab.

As soon as they had left, Denny seemed to turn even paler, which at first didn't seem possible. Then, His eyes shot wide open and his face seemed to quiver.

"Denny?!" Paxton said in alarm.

"What's happening?!" Denny said in a shaky whisper, "D—Did the power go out?"

"What're you talking about…the lights are still on," Paxton said nervously. He couldn't shake the feeling that this was not going to end well.

"Oh no…" Paul muttered, "Denny, we're still here," he said.

Not far from the Dieselworks, Daniella had braked without warning. "We have to go back," she said.

"Daniella, what the hell?!" Lorelei exclaimed.

"Something's not right!" Daniella said urgently. She couldn't quite explain it, but she had a very unsettling feeling, much like she'd had when Diesel 10 had become ill.

Reluctantly, Lorelei took Daniella back to the Dieselworks. There, much to her dismay, Denny was desperately fighting to keep his eyes open, staring somewhat blankly, and looked much worse than before.

"Aww no…" Daniella said as she got on the turntable and positioned herself so that she was right in front of Denny. Reaching out with her claw, she touched his trembling cheek. "Don't fight it lil one," she said softly.

"I'm scared…" Denny whispered.

"Nothin' to be scared of," Daniella assured him.

"B—But…" Denny said weakly.

"Close your eyes an' relax. It won't hurt at all," said Daniella.

"Just…do it, Denny," Paxton said shakily, "S—She's probably right…a—and…" Paxton gulped, blinking back tears. "I'm gonna miss you," he said.

With no more strength to speak, Denny slowly closed his eyes. Now, the only sign of life was the occasional twitching of his eyelids, which had become more feeble by the second, until finally all movement ceased.

"D—Denny?" Paxton choked out. When only silence met his statement, he burst into tears. Despite multiple attempts from Daniella, Diesel 10, Lorelei and Paul to soothe him, Paxton was inconsolable. Finally, Daniella coupled up to Denny and took him back to the scrapyard.

That night, Paxton cried himself to sleep. He was utterly devastated, having lost two of his brothers; both of them having died right in front of him. Everyone was worried about him, as no one had ever seen him so upset before. His friends could only hope that he would be alright.


	15. Chapter 15

After Daniella had taken Denny to the scrapyard to be dismantled and laid to rest, she departed and travelled to Barrow-in-Furness, where two unserviceable engines awaited. The yard manager had informed her that two diesel shunters had been in a terrible accident, both having fallen into the smelters pit. While the two shunters had been quickly pulled out by the fast-thinking crane, the damage had been done.

Bracing herself for a grisly sight, Daniella headed for the siding where the two diesels had been moved to. Indeed, it was a grisly sight. The first of the two shunters, an olive green class 08, had horrific burns on its face, and its buffers had been melted onto its chassis. Its front wheels had warped, and tears of pain and misery poured from its eyes as it looked sullenly at the ground.

The second engine was in far worse condition. A large chunk of its face was missing, exposing the warped, melted grille underneath. Its purple paint was peeling and flaking where it hadn't come off completely, and its fuel tanks had burst from the intense heat, leaving gaping holes. Its wheels were fused to the siderods, all of which were badly deformed. It was barely alive, and clearly in terrible pain. Daniella frowned as she saw its eyes occasionally roll back; it was struggling to stay conscious, and she knew that if it fell unconscious that it would likely never wake again.

"Holy shit," Daniella muttered, "How did this happen?"

The olive green engine locked eyes with her. "We got pushed in the pit…" it said weakly.

"What?!" Daniella exclaimed, and the two shunters flinched.

"Visiting engine…couldn't stop in time…that's what the manager said happened…" the once purple engine said.

"You two got names?" Daniella asked.

"I'm Dodge," the olive green engine said, "and that's Splatter…he fell in first and was pulled out after me," he said.

"Don't worry guys, I'm gonna take care of ya," said Daniella.

Dodge gulped. "W-What do you mean by that, Reaper?" he said anxiously.

"I mean I'm gonna keep ya comfortable, as much as I can, anyway," Daniella replied.

At that, Splatter and Dodge smiled.

Meanwhile, Dennis was sitting near the scrapyard gates, keeping an eye out for that Deltic who worked for Tiberius. He was surprised when he heard two steam whistles in the distance. A few minutes later, he saw two little yellow tank engines approach.

"Hello," one of the tank engines said, "I'm Bill,"

"I'm Ben," the other one said.

"Where's Daniella?" asked Bill.

"Er…she's out doing her work," Dennis said awkwardly.

"OK, can we come in?" asked Ben.

"We heard that Derek was here. We want to see him," said Bill.

Dennis smiled. "Sure," he said, "I'm sure his siblings would love to see you too." Soon, the gates were opened, and Bill and Ben entered the scrapyard. They soon found Derek, who was sitting amongst his ailing siblings, several of whom were quite close to death.

When Derek saw the twins approach, his face lit up.

"Hello Derek!" Ben tooted.

"Remember us?" said Bill.

Derek grinned. "Of course I remember! You two were quite mischievous," he said.

"Oh, we still are," said Bill.

"I hope you haven't been causing too much trouble," said Derek.

"Not _too_ much," said Ben.

"It was Ben's fault," said Bill.

"Was not!" Ben retorted.

Derek chuckled. "It's good to see I'm not forgotten," he said.

"Why are you here?" asked Ben.

At that, Derek's smile faded. "My class is a failure," he said, looking sadly at the empty siding next to his. Only three of his eleven siblings remained, the rest had died. Derek himself appeared to be on his way out, and he was certainly feeling it too. He had noticed that over the last few weeks, it had become difficult to remain awake for more than a few hours at a time. Derek knew that one day, he would drift off and never wake again. Yet, he didn't really mind. As a matter of fact, he thought himself to be quite lucky.

Derek was fully aware that many engines that got sent to be scrapped were cut up before they were gone, and he knew that where he was, that would not happen to him. Plus, he wasn't in any pain.

At the Dieselworks, Daniel was quietly listening to all that was going on. He was somewhat confused, as he couldn't see what was happening. He heard workmen shouting, and some loud clanking.

"Melvin?" Paul said shakily.

"C'mon bud, don't do this," one of the workmen said.

What Daniel couldn't see was that the little class 01, who was being worked on, had suddenly become completely unresponsive. Melvin's face had lost all color, and his eyes remained slightly open, yet he was completely still and eerily silent.

Paul looked on as the workmen repeatedly attempted to repair and revive him. However, their efforts were in vain. Melvin had simply been damaged beyond repair, and he had slipped away while being worked on.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anyone, Jarred, along with a class 14 by the name of Jacob, had made their way to Sodor. The two engines, along with their owner Tiberius, were most certainly up to no good.


	16. Chapter 16

Aurora was in what used to be the Fat Controller's office, looking through the file cabinet rather diligently, when she heard an unfamiliar whistle. Looking out the window, she saw a purple and gold tank engine sitting at the platform.

"Well, here comes trouble," Aurora said as she stepped out of the office.

"Excuse me?" Lady said, somewhat bewildered.

"Ain't you Lady?" said Aurora.

"Well, yes," Lady replied.

"I've heard about you. Didn't shit go down the last time you showed up? And the time before that, and the time before _that_?" Aurora said pointedly.

For a moment, Lady gaped at her. "I hope you're not accusing me of causing trouble! I would never!" she said.

"I ain't blaming you, it's just from everything I've heard, you only show up when shit's about to hit the fan," said Aurora.

"Well, I can sense when something is amiss," said Lady.

"This railway don't need no more trouble," Aurora said with a sigh.

"Excuse me miss, but where's Lorelei?" Burnett asked.

"She's out with Daniella. They had to go drag more engines to the scrapyard. If you wanna talk to them, I suggest waiting at the Dieselworks, cuz once they return, they gotta take a dead one outta there," said Aurora.

"Oh my goodness!" Lady exclaimed.

"Yeah…one of Paxton's brothers," said Aurora.

"Oh dear," Lady said quietly.

"Well, thank you miss," Burnett said, and at that, they left.

A short while later, Lady puffed into the Dieselworks. She briefly laid eyes on the covered-up remains of Denny, and quickly looked away. However, she ended up looking right at Daniel, and let out a sharp gasp. "Who are you?" she said.

When the blind warship didn't answer, Lady inched closer to him. "Excuse me…are you alive?" she said shakily.

"Huh?!" Daniel said, waking with a start.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I thought you might be…" Lady trailed off. Daniel's faded; unmoving eyes were unsettling to say the least.

"You sound familiar. My name's Daniel. What's yours?" the blind engine asked.

"D-Daniel?" Lady stammered. She remembered, long ago, when her brakes failed and she was out of control. As she approached a bend, a big diesel pulling a heavy freight train was heading straight for her. She remembered seeing it come off the tracks, and hearing its pained screams. She had felt awful, being unable to help at all due to her predicament.

Lady hadn't known at the time who that engine was, nor did she think that his accident would cause another engine to seek revenge on her for years. However, she had felt guilty about Daniel's accident ever since it happened. Now, she truly felt terrible.

Lady backed out of the main shed, and broke down crying. Daniel had been suffering for years, blinded and unable to move. What had happened to him was basically a fate worse than death. If her brakes hadn't failed that day, Daniel would probably be alright, and Diesel 10 would have never gone insane. "I…oh god…I'm the bad guy…" Lady sobbed miserably.

Diesel 10, who had been resting in his shed, came out to see what all the commotion was. He was surprised to see Lady sitting right outside, crying her eyes out. However, before he could say anything, Lady looked up at him, and became even more distraught.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry…it's all my fault! I—I never wanted this—Daniel—it's my fault—I was the bad guy all along—I'm so sorry—I'm so sorry!" Lady sobbed.

Diesel 10 rolled his eyes. "Look, what happened…Dani was right. It wasn't your fault," he said.

Lady, however, wouldn't calm down no matter what was said to her. Wracked with guilt, she remained where she was, not daring to look at Diesel 10. Then, unexpectedly, the big diesel rolled up to her and planted a kiss on her forehead.

There was quite an awkward silence as everyone, including Daniella, who had just returned from the Other Railway, stared at him. Realizing what he had just done, Diesel 10 quickly retreated into his shed. He was thoroughly embarrassed, to say the least. Lady, on the other hand, was utterly stunned.

"What the fuck was that about?!" Daniella exclaimed.

"I…don't know," said Lady.

"Hmm…I know I wouldn't mind if a certain clawed warship did that to me," Dennis murmured.

"Really?!" Daniella said as she was coupled up to what was left of Denny.

"Well, um, perhaps not here in front of everyone…um…maybe back at the scrapyard…" Dennis trailed off.

"Oh, yes, because making out amongst a bunch of dead and dying engines is such a _perfect_ setting for a night out," Daniella said sarcastically.

"Well…er…maybe not like that…" Dennis said awkwardly.

" _Sure_ , Dennis, that would be fucking _beautiful_. Let's lock lips and gaze at the stars and ignore the fucking death that surrounds us!" Daniella said caustically. Without another word, she left.

"Aww…" Dennis groaned, deflated. "I thought she liked me…" he said, looking down.

"I think she's simply in a bad mood," said Norman.

Inside the main shed, the workmen had finally given up on Arry. No matter what they did, he wouldn't get any better, despite having quite a few old parts replaced. There simply was no logical reason as to why he still was ill.

"Arry?" Dart said to him.

Arry looked away, his face twisted into a pained scowl.

"Oh…what's the matter with him?" Dart said sadly.

"I think, um, I mean…he doesn't want to go on," said Den.

At that, Arry looked at Den almost pleadingly. Den and Dart didn't know what to do at this point.

Lady, who had gotten over her initial shock, puffed inside and took another look at Daniel,. "Excuse me," she said quietly, "I'm sorry for everything…I'm that engine you braked to avoid…I only wish this hadn't happened to you."

To her surprise, Daniel smiled. "It could have happened to anyone," he said.

"You don't have to forgive me," Lady said, looking down.

"It's no one's fault…besides…" Daniel paused, then said, "Don't tell Diesel 10 this…I don't think he'll take it well…but he'll find out…I…think my time is coming…"

"Daniel!" Lady exclaimed quietly, seeing that Diesel 10 was emerging from his shed once more.

"I just don't want him to lose his mind…I'm too far gone. I'm just glad I…he got to see me again…and Dani," said Daniel.

"He's right there!" Lady said quietly.

Daniel cringed. "Aw crap…well, he's gonna find out," he said.

Diesel 10 didn't want to believe it. He had just found out that Daniel had been alive this whole time, and now he was going to lose his twin for good. He would do anything to keep him around, anything at all. Yet, Daniel was most certainly damaged beyond repair.


	17. Chapter 17

Lady sat nervously in the Dieselworks as Diesel 10 looked back and forth between her and Daniel. She knew that Diesel 10 was feeling upset about his brother, yet she couldn't stop her mind from wandering back to just a few minutes ago when he had unexpectedly kissed her forehead. Lady had always imagined that Diesel 10's face would feel rough to the touch, but it had been rather soft and smooth. Lady mentally scolded herself for thinking such thoughts; this wasn't the time to have her head in the clouds like this!

She was snapped out of her reverie by Diesel 10, who spoke in a voice that sounded so broken, so utterly defeated: "Why? Why are so many diesels dying? The steam engines aren't dropping like flies!"

At that, Burnett stepped down from Lady's cab, looking somewhat ashamed. "I'd heard a tale a long time ago…at the time I really didn't care very much, as it was back when steam was being done away with," Burnett paused to take a breath, by now, everyone was looking at him. "You all know how Lady here, her magic ensures the survival of engines…well, her magic mainly affects steam engines. There's another like her,"

At that, there were several exclamations of " _What_?!" from the engines that were present.

"Yes, a very special diesel on the mainland," Burnett said as he rummaged through his pockets, finally pulling out an old, folded up piece of paper. Opening it up, he read what had been written on it: "To ensure the survival of diesel traction, this engine has not been named for his own safety. If destroyed, the diesels will fall. However, this one may rise from the dust with the help of the lady, shall he ever fall. Only if the lady faces her fear and allies with the monster she fears, shall the engines unite, and the fallen magic be restored. Remember never judge a book by its cover, or an engine by its face. You will find that the most feared one has the biggest heart. If this engine is ever lost, visit the nest of the gentle vulture and find the remains. Fire and gold will revive the lost one."

Everyone looked at Burnett as he folded the paper again and placed it back into his pocket.

"Gentle vulture? We have to find a vulture's nest?" Dart muttered.

"Um…I think that must mean the scrapyard," Paxton said quietly, and everyone looked at him. "I mean, Daniella is like a vulture—no offense, Diesel 10. She…kind of is,"

Diesel 10 raised his eyebrows. "Paxton!" he exclaimed.

Paxton gulped. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he said, looking down.

"No, Paxton, you're right! That bit about the most feared one? That's not talking about me, the most feared engine is Dani!" said Diesel 10.

"Wait, are you saying that your sister is a fucking magic engine?!" Arry blurted out in disbelief.

"No, Dani is the feared one. The other magic engine must be in her scrapyard! Fire and gold…" Diesel 10 trailed off.

"I…must have to be at the smelters, and do something with my gold dust," said Lady.

"That's what I was thinking. Tell you what, go on and head over there. I'll meet you there. I need to go to the scrapyard and figure out which of the dead engines this lost diesel is," said Diesel 10.

Lady was somewhat surprised at him. Yes, she had helped save his life before, but she still was taken aback by how willing he was to work with her.

"There's no time to waste, Lady! Go to the smelters, and I'll meet you there. The faster this is done, the less of us that will end up in the scrapheap!" said Diesel 10.

"Alright," Lady said with a sigh. Burnett got back into her cab, and they headed off.

"I'll be back, Daniel. You hold on for me," Diesel 10 said as he left.

As Diesel 10 was heading for the scrapyard, he noticed Daniella rushing past on the other track, heading for Sodor. A part of him wanted to stop and follow her, as he feared that another of Sodor's diesels had fallen. Yet, he pressed on. If he didn't want to lose anyone else he knew, he had to do this. He could only hope that it wasn't too late for them or for diesels in general.

Soon, Diesel 10 arrived at the scrapyard. He wasn't sure which of the dead diesels he needed to take, so he decided to look everywhere. If he couldn't figure out which one, he would just take them all. However, he was distracted from his mission by a sight that horrified him.

"Splodge…no!" Diesel 10 said as he pulled up to the two half-melted shunters. Splatter, he could tell by looking at him, was already gone. Dodge, however, looked up at his former boss wearily. His face was chalky white, and a sickly gurgling sound emanated from him.

"Spl…Dodge…" Diesel 10 said as he rested his claw on top of him.

Dodge tried to respond, but a sick, choking sound was all that came out. Black fluid seeped from his mouth as he struggled and gasped, gagging and choking horribly. Diesel 10 cringed, moving his claw in circles, doing his best to comfort him. He knew that Dodge wasn't going to last like this, and didn't want to leave him alone when he was so clearly suffering. Diesel 10 felt a pang of guilt, remembering how he had treated the two shunters, using them in his quest for revenge. Yet, he didn't know what to say. He wanted to apologize, but no words came out when he tried to speak.

Dodge gasped a couple of times, making a slight gurgling noise as he did. "I…guess this…is the end…" he said weakly.

"I…" Diesel 10 said, still unable to find the right words to say to him.

"Don't worry…I know…you never…" Dodge's sentence was cut short by another choking gasp. "Never…wanted to harm…" he said, his voice straining. Dodge coughed a wet, sickly cough. "Goodbye Diesel 10…see you on the…on the other side…" he said weakly. Then, his eyes slid shut, and he became still.

Diesel 10 sat there for a couple minutes, still stroking him with his claw. Finally, he backed away. Dodge was gone, and he had something very important he had to do. There was no more time to waste.


	18. Chapter 18

Diesel 10 didn't know where to start. At this point, he figured he might as well just gather up all of the dead engines and take them to the Sodor smelters, and figure it out from there. His mind was still reeling, and his heart still aching, after seeing Dodge die right in front of him.

As Diesel 10 was about to couple up to a broken class 14, he heard a strange sound, like an echoed, soft whine, coming from a siding. Thinking it was a bit strange; he switched onto another track and went to investigate. Hearing the sound again, he followed it, and switched onto an old siding that was quite well hidden from view. There, he saw the remains of a badly burnt class 02, still fully intact.

Diesel 10 remembered the little engine from the first time he had been at this scrapyard, when his sister had towed him there. He had been both horrified and amazed at the same time when he had first seen this engine. At the time, the little shunter was still alive, and acted quite cheerful despite his injuries. Sadly, the class 02 had died that night, and Diesel 10 regretted not being able to apologize for coming across as rude to him.

"Phoenix," Diesel 10 said sadly, "If, somehow, you're listening…I'm sorry." Then, Diesel 10 gasped, remembering what Burnett had read. "Gold and fire, vulture's nest, Phoenix, _Phoenix_! This must be the one!" Noticing that the mangled shunter's couplings were partially melted, Diesel 10 gripped Phoenix' buffers and reversed. He couldn't go too fast like this, which irritated him, but he had to get this engine back to Sodor.

Meanwhile, Daniella had found herself in a predicament. Someone had switched her onto the wrong track, and she was heading straight for an old shed. Realizing she was going too fast to stop in time, she shut her eye and braced for impact. Smashing through the old wooden doors, she came to an abrupt stop when she hit a set of buffers rather roughly. Wondering why a set of buffers was inside of an abandoned shed, Daniella opened her eye. Before her was a weathered looking green diesel, who stared back at her in abject terror.

"Um, hi there," Daniella said awkwardly. She wasn't hurt, save for a few scratches, so she reversed a bit, that way she wasn't all up in the other engine's face. "Sorry about that, you alright?" she said.

"Reaper," the other engine said quietly.

Daniella moved some of the debris away with her claw. "Yeah, I'm the Reaper. You can call me Dani though. Everyone else does…er…who are you and what are ya doin' in this old shit shack?" she said.

The green diesel gulped. "I'm BoCo; the Fat Controller locked me away in this shed after I found out what he was planning to do. I suppose you've already scrapped all the other diesels," he said, looking down in defeat.

"Wait _what_?! BoCo?! We've all been searching for ya! And no, I didn't murder any diesels! Before you ask, I'm not a killer," said Daniella.

"But…the Fat Controller was planning on having…having you…" BoCo gulped nervously, "Scrap all of the diesels," he said with a shudder.

"I'm well aware of that. The fat asshole is dead. My owner runs the railway now," said Daniella.

At that, BoCo looked like he wanted to cry. Noticing his distress, Daniella spoke up. "Hey…Lorelei cares a lot about engines. Tell you what, I'm gonna take ya to the works to get looked at, and on the way, I'll tell ya everything that happened." At that, Daniella coupled up to BoCo, and told him about how Diesel 10 had nearly died, how Lorelei found out about the Fat Controller's plans, the rockslide that killed Bert, and how she risked her life to save Paxton. By the time they arrived at the Dieselworks, BoCo was no longer afraid. He was quite relieved that the rumors about Daniella were mostly false, and that she was actually a kind, caring engine.

Upon arriving at the Dieselworks, Lorelei called for all the engines to assemble there. After all, BoCo had valuable information, and answers that many of the engines, especially the steam engines, desperately needed. However, even after the rest had showed up, two engines remained absent.

At the Ironworks, Diesel 10 and Lady watched nervously as the freshly made parts for a class 02 diesel were being assembled. To speed things up, Diesel 10 was using his claw to help lift and hold the bigger pieces. It took many hours, which wasn't half bad, seeing as constructing a new engine normally took much longer.

Burnett had put some of Lady's gold dust into the new engine's fuel tank, and they waited anxiously as it was started up for the first time. Finally, the little shunter opened its eyes, blinking a couple of times before taking in its surroundings. Finally, the big, innocent eyes looked at Lady, then at Diesel 10. The shunter grinned, and spoke for the first time: "You did it!" he said happily.

"Phoenix? Is it you?" Diesel 10 asked.

"It's me," Phoenix replied, smiling warmly.

"Oh, thank heavens," Lady said, sighing in relief.

Phoenix then looked down at his buffers, and realized that he hadn't been painted at all. Letting out a gasp, he exclaimed, "I'm _naked_!" and flushed red in embarrassment.

Lady giggled, and Diesel 10 sighed in exasperation. "Fine, I'll take you to the Dieselworks where you can get painted whatever colors you want, but after that, you need to do whatever it is you magic engines do and stop us from all dying!" he said. Diesel 10 then coupled up to Phoenix from behind and pushed him all the way to Vicarstown. Lady followed behind, letting out a few giggles.

When they arrived at the Dieselworks, however, Phoenix was horrified to see that every engine on Sodor was gathered there! He hoped that he could get past them without being seen, but to his horror, Diesel 10 honked his horn and quite loudly announced, "Out of my way! Naked engine coming through!"

Phoenix' cheeks turned redder than tomatoes as he was shunted into the main shed. Now, _everyone_ was staring at him, and quite a few of them were laughing! This was certainly not what he expected. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he was inside of the main building, and away from prying eyes. Well, other than Den, Dart, and Arry. At least those three weren't staring or laughing immaturely.

As the workmen began to paint him, Daniella went into the main shed. "Diesel fucking 10! Where the hell have you been?!" she snapped.

"Dani, I can explain—" Diesel 10 began.

"You are _five hours late_! Everyone, literally _everyone_ has been waiting for you and your damn girlfriend to quit fucking around and get your ass to this meeting!" Daniella snapped.

"Lady is not my girlfriend!" Diesel 10 snapped back, "Now, if you'd just let me—"

Diesel 10 was once again cut off by Daniella. "And who the hell is this?!" she said, pointing her claw very rudely at Phoenix.

"That's what I was trying to explain!" Diesel 10 said, exasperated.

Phoenix, however, looked down and pouted. "You don't recognize me, Dani?" he said sadly.

Daniella stared at him for a couple seconds, not believing the voice she was hearing.

"It's me, Dani. Your brother and Lady brought me back," Phoenix said, looking at her with watery eyes.

"No. Fucking. Way," Daniella said breathlessly. "Phoenix—but—how?! You're _dead_! _Diesel fucking 10_! You created a goddamn _zombie_!"

"He's not a zombie, Daniella. He's an engine like me," said Daniella.

"You mean to tell me…" Daniella trailed off.

"Yes, Daniella, he's magic, and without him, horrible things will happen to engines on the mainland, especially diesels," said Lady.

"That's why so many of us have been dying!" said Diesel 10.

"Without my magic to protect them, bad things will start happening to the mainland engines…I know it's already started. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, Dani," Phoenix said, looking down. "I didn't have much time, and I was trying to hold on…I finally couldn't anymore. If I did…then all would have been lost. Though as a spirit, I could only do so much to protect them," he said sadly.

"How exactly are you gonna help us set things right?" said Daniella.

"He can explain that later. Right now, BoCo has something he's been waiting to say for hours," Lorelei said, giving Lady and Diesel 10 pointed looks. At that, the two of them went out and joined the assembled engines. Daniella, however, stayed behind just long enough to give Phoenix a reassuring smile.


	19. Chapter 19

By now, everyone wanted to hear what BoCo had to say. After all, most of them had been waiting almost six hours, and understandably had grown impatient. Finally, BoCo spoke: "I'm not sure how much you all know, but I'd been locked in that shed because, well, I knew too much," he said.

At that, everyone was silent, listening intently. BoCo continued: "A while ago, I'm not even sure how long ago it was, I was sent to the Dieselworks for minor repairs. I saw the awful condition this place was in…and I met Diesel 10. At the time, I only knew what everyone else said about him. That he's a bad diesel and such. At first, it seemed that was true, he was going on about how he was going to get back at the steam engines. So, I asked him why he hated them…he didn't tell me much, except something about steam engines being generally horrid and prejudiced, both here and on the mainland."

BoCo cast a wary look at Diesel 10, yet to his surprise the warship seemed calm. Seeing that, he continued: "After a rather long, obscenity-laced tirade about steam engines, he started going on about how diesels were being treated as, well, second class. And I had to admit, he was right. I'd wondered why they didn't just tell the Fat Controller, after all, he used to say that all his engines were important. So naturally, I decided to talk to him." BoCo looked down. "I had no clue just what a bad idea that was. The Fat Controller brushed me off, and told me that matters like this were none of my concern. I made the mistake of telling him that Diesel 10 had made a good point about the island's diesels being neglected, and that maybe he'd behave better if they were all treated a little better…"

BoCo gave Diesel 10 an apologetic look. "Not long after that, I had to take some trucks to the Dieselworks, and I noticed…he wasn't doing very well. That evening, I went to Knapford…and saw that Topham was in his office, talking on the phone. He had left the window open, and I overheard everything."

BoCo paused, looking like he wanted to cry. "It was then…I'd never felt so betrayed…he was talking about scrapping some of his engines…and there was another man in the office with him. They started talking about how he was doing the steam engines a great service, about plans to have only steam on his railway. He was talking about how he couldn't keep the diesels silent for long, and that he feared a revolt, and how that would spell disaster for the railway. He was afraid that his image as a kind controller would be shattered…and decided to put a permanent end to any possibility of that happening. I was going to tell everyone, but he saw me, and told me that I'd done plenty of work that day, and to go take a rest. To be honest, I was rather tired, so I went into a shed to sleep. The next morning…I found out that the shed had been boarded up," he said.

Many of the other engines stared in shock. There they had it, the reason that the Fat Controller had turned his back on the diesels. It was no fault of BoCo's, and they all realized that. No, this was due to Sir Topham Hatt's own personal prejudice and fears.

The silence was broken by the sound of a horn, as two diesels pulled up. Daniella snarled viciously as the last person she wanted to see hopped down from the cab of the smaller one and stormed up to Lorelei.

" _You_!" Lorelei snarled as she rounded on him, balling her hands into fists.

"You sick, psychotic, evil fucking _monster_!" Daniella shouted as she took a swipe at him with her claw. Unfortunately, he was standing just out of reach.

"Keep that bitch on a leash, woman!" Tiberius said as he glared daggers at Lorelei and pointed an angry finger at Daniella. "Not that it matters," he added darkly. "I'm putting an end to that blasted rogue engine, and stopping this ridiculous rebellion in its tracks!"

"What the hell are you talking about?! There's no damn rebellion! And you need a straitjacket and a padded cell!" Aurora shouted from Daniella's cab.

"This, _this_!" Tiberius shouted as he gestured at the engines surrounding him. "You ruined my brother; you nearly put me out of business, all with your—your _disgusting compassion for mere MACHINES_!" Tiberius spat. At that, he pulled out from his jacket pocket a rather ominous looking remote. As he did so, a sinister, psychotic grin crept up his face. "Since you're all here, this will be easy. I've nothing left to lose, _and I'm taking you all out with me_!"

Lorelei's eyes widened as she lunged at Tiberius, grabbing his wrist. "EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!" She shouted at the top of her voice as the two fell to the ground in a desperate struggle. The engines and their drivers didn't need to be told twice. Everyone started moving as quickly as possible. However, it wasn't fast enough. Tiberius managed to break free of Lorelei's grasp and detonate the explosives that he had planted around the Dieselworks.

What happened next was pure chaos. Nothing could be heard over the sound of the explosions. Daniella closed her one remaining eye tightly as debris flew. She could hear screaming, so much screaming. After what seemed like an eternity, she opened her eye, and saw nothing but destruction.

In the midst of the chaos, no one saw Tiberius flee to safety with his two engines. However, that was the last thing on Daniella's mind. As her eye darted frantically from the remains of the buildings and the scattered debris, she could only think of her brothers, her driver, her owner. " _LORELEI_!" she shrieked.

"I'm alright! …I think," Lorelei's muffled voice came from behind the rubble at the entrance to the main shed, or rather what was left of it.

Without thinking, Daniella began to clear away the debris that was blocking her path. Finally, she saw the inside of the Dieselworks. The roof had partially collapsed, and to her horror, Daniel was in pieces. It was now perfectly clear why he had been delivered to her. Tiberius had planted a bomb on him. Looking to her left, she saw an even worse sight. Diesel 10 had been thrown off the rails and was lying on his side. Both Arry and Phoenix seemed alright, and most likely due to the fact that Diesel 10 had been between them and Daniel.

As Daniella reached out to touch her brother's claw, a hand popped out from inside, then another. Lorelei hoisted herself up through the opening in the side of his claw, shaken and out of breath, but not seriously injured. As she did this, Diesel 10 groaned. "Stop them," he said, wincing.

"I am _not_ leavin' you! No way in hell!" said Daniella.

"He's right, Dani, we have to stop them," Phoenix said quietly.

Lady, who was one of the fortunate ones to escape with only some scratches, gulped as she reluctantly agreed. "We may have magic, but we may need your brute strength," she said.

"But-!" Daniella protested.

"Go, Dani, I'll be alright," said Diesel 10.

As Daniella looked at her brother, she did her best not to cry. However, she couldn't help it, especially after getting a good look at him. The side that was facing upwards looked as if it had been viciously ripped and torn. One look told her that he had most likely suffered severe damage internally. Amazingly, his chassis hadn't been mangled or bent, which if it had, would most likely be a death sentence for him.

"Don't cry, Dani…" Diesel 10 said softly, "I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

"You better not," Daniella said with a sniffle.

"C'mon, let's go put an end to that evil son of a bitch!" said Lorelei.

As Daniella, Lady, and Phoenix left, Lady cast a glance in Diesel 10's direction. "Goodbye," she whispered, "I only hope it's not the last."


	20. Chapter 20

Tiberius had thought there was no chance that anyone could stop him now. However, just to be sure he had finished the job; he had Jarred pulling a train of gunpowder wagons back towards Vicarstown. Jacob, the class 14, was pushing from behind. What they didn't expect was to see Daniella up ahead, accompanied by Lady and Phoenix.

Then, to Tiberius' surprise, Jarred slammed his brakes on. "What are you _doing_?!" Tiberius snapped.

Jarred looked at Daniella for a moment, then said, "Thinking for myself for once!"

"Now is not the time! You have a job to do!" Tiberius barked. "That damned warship is right there! Finish her off! That's an order!"

"NO!" Jarred shouted.

" _WHAT_?!" Tiberius exclaimed.

"I SAID _NO_!" Jarred shouted at the top of his voice, "You've gone _way_ too far with this! And you know what, The Reaper is RIGHT! You can take your orders and shove them _up your fucking asshole_!" At that, Jarred began to reverse as fast as he could.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Tiberius shouted.

"Putting an end to this! You've done more than enough damage, and You're not going to be doing any more!" Jarred said as he continued to push the train backwards. He struggled against his driver's controls, and against Jacob, who was trying to push the train forwards. However, the Deltic was strong, and soon they were barreling backwards down Gordon's hill. Jacob's brakes finally gave out, and they were soon out of control. Jarred smiled slightly as he saw Daniella following at a safe distance. Finally, they hit a curve. Jacob came off the rails first, followed by the dangerous cargo, which exploded upon impact.

Jarred heard the screams of his crew, along with Tiberius, as his back cab was torn apart by the force of the explosion. The pain was intense as his chassis was warped. He knew that Tiberius was dead; no one could have survived that crash.

As his vision began to fade, Jarred noticed Daniella approaching. He looked at her with deep regret, wishing that he'd turned against Tiberius sooner. "I…I'm sorry…if I could change what happened…I'm a monster…a murderer…a…" Jarred suddenly became silent. A single tear escaped his eye before his face stilled, freezing in an expression of pain and deep remorse.

Phoenix and Lady watched as Daniella reached out with her claw and gently closed his eyes. "C'mon, let's go back," she said glumly.

At the Dieselworks, cleanup had already begun. Those who hadn't been severely damaged had gone and gotten help. Both Rocky and the old breakdown crane were there, along with the Pack, and the entire Sodor search and rescue team. Diesel, Mavis, Thomas, Duck, Den, and Dart were all helping, having been lucky enough to escape with only minor damage. Sadly, not everyone had been so fortunate. James was lying in pieces, and Gordon lay lifeless on his side, with a huge portion of his face having been torn off.

Paxton was sobbing uncontrollably; he had never witnessed anything this horrific before. His cab had been severely damaged, and he had lost his driver. Though his injuries weren't fatal, he had lost far too much that day to be able to handle it.

Both Edward and BoCo had sustained severe damage, however Lorelei demanded that anyone who had even the slightest chance to be saved be restored, or at least have everything done to save them.

Diesel 10 was jolted awake by sudden movement. Wincing, he noticed that he was being lifted up by one of the cranes.

"Easy there, you'll be alright," a kind, feminine voice spoke.

Opening his eyes completely, Diesel 10 saw that it was the old breakdown cranes. With great care, they lifted the big diesel onto a flatbed, and he was moved out of the destroyed building by Dart. Then, Arry and Paul were pulled outside. Both of them were shaken and stunned, but not severely damaged.

Daniella, upon seeing her brother give her a reassuring smile, went to help with the cleanup. However, before she had a chance to do anything, she was caught off guard as a big blue engine bumped into her front end.

Dennis, upon seeing that Daniella was still in one piece, broke down in tears as he nuzzled and kissed her cheek affectionately. "You're alright—I was—I was afraid—I don't want to lose you! I already—I almost lost you once—" he sobbed.

"Sssshh, Dennis," Daniella said as she patted him gently with her claw, "I'm here to stay."

"You…you mean it?" Dennis said as he looked at her tearfully.

"Yeah, I really mean it. But now's not the time for makin' out. We can do that later, after all this mess is cleaned up," said Daniella.

Eventually, the aftermath of the worst disaster to ever hit Sodor was cleared up, and a new Dieselworks was built. James, Gordon, and Daniel had been killed in the blasts that had torn the place apart. Sadly, Oliver and Sidney later died, having been too badly damaged to restore. Diesel 10 was eventually repaired, and Paxton eventually got over the loss of his driver, and two of his brothers. He would always miss them, but deep down, he knew that wherever they were now, they were alright.

Paul's life was saved, though he could no longer run under his own power without risking becoming ill. He didn't mind though, after all, he got to spend his time with Paxton, and he ended up making a lot of friends.

Arry had changed his mind about giving up when the disaster had struck. Too many lives had been lost already, and he knew that he would be needed. Phoenix had also helped him realize that his twin wouldn't have wanted him to waste away.

Bill and Ben's frequent visits to the scrapyard helped to encourage others to visit, and eventually Madison was taken to Sodor and successfully restored. Derek died peacefully, shortly after his siblings had passed.

Both BoCo and Edward survived, and went on to advocate for fair treatment of engines. Overall, the wheels of change were in motion, and more railways began adopting policies preventing mistreatment of engines. On top of that, cruelty in scrapyards, though not illegal, was very much frowned upon, and most scrapyard owners ended up changing their policies.

For years to come, stories would be passed down about the Grim Reaper of the Other Railway. However, these stories were no longer horrid rumors about her hunting down shunters and viciously tearing them apart. No, these were stories about how she saved lives, stood her ground, and set things in motion by daring to think outside the box.


End file.
